


To Catch a Shooting Star

by Emerald_Queeny



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Angst, Constructive Criticism Welcome, F/M, Fluff, Kidnapping, My First Fanfic, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-23
Updated: 2018-05-20
Packaged: 2018-07-26 04:13:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 35,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7559665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emerald_Queeny/pseuds/Emerald_Queeny
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dipper and Mabel Pines have returned to Gravity Falls seven years after the events of Weirdmagedon. They are both ready to spend one last summer in the Mystery Shack until going to Gravity Falls University. But, all of this changes when Mabel accidentally releases Bill, giving him a new body. Instantly Bill devises a plan and kidnaps her, but what happens when the plan changes? She never meant to start liking him and he surely never ever wanted the issues that come with being somewhat human.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Return to the Falls Pt: 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the new and improved chapter one, no real plot changes, but better writing. Thanks for coming to read this!

~~~~

* * *

 

“Hey Dipper?”

 

“Yeah Mabes?”

 

“How many years has it been again?”

 

“What?”

 

“Oh, ya know since the last summer we were here, when we were twelve.”

 

Nose still buried in his book Dipper responded, “Do the math yourself.”

 

“Aw come on Bro-bro. I’m just saying. I know it's been seven years…”

 

“And…?”

 

“I don’t know what if everyone has changed? What if they don’t even care we are back?”

 

Sighing Dipper set his book on his lap and turned to his twin, “Mabel, I’m pretty sure we have changed more than any of them. This is Gravity Falls we’re talking about, and besides did you hear how excited Grunkles Stan and Ford were? They didn’t even waste time making preparations and started shouting at Soos and Melody all the way from the basement about how they _had_ to let us stay at the Shack.”

 

Giggling as she recalled the memory from only a few weeks ago when they had called to tell their Grunkles (that had only been back in Gravity Falls for a few months since their trip around the world) to tell them they would be going to school nearby and would be coming back to the Falls.  She could almost imagine the look of joy that Grunkle Stan probably tried to hide as he started shouting to Soos and his wife.

 

Looking out the window of the old Greyhound bus the whispered questioningly, “Are you worried about being back there?”

 

Now Dipper had set his book down and stared sadly at his sister as she avoided eye-contact. He knew she would never admit it, but she still blamed herself for what had happened seven years ago in Gravity Falls. Sighing, he replied with a sad smile, “Hey Mabes…” he lightly touched her hand, “We have so many more good memories from there that I am sure we will be fine. You ARE going to become a fashion major, and then go on to create a new line of _fashion_ sweaters like you always wanted…”

 

Turning to Dipper, Mabel chimed in with a slight smile twitching at her lips, “And you’re going to earn your monster hunting degree and get that tv show you always wanted.”

 

“Cryptozoology you mean?” Chuckling he continued, “See! You are already doing great. You have no reason to be scared.” Puffing out his chest proudly he added, “Besides, now I am big enough and strong enough to protect you at all times.”

 

“Whatever Bro-bro, I guess I really shouldn’t be worried.” As Mabel finished they looked out the window to see an old broken sign that read “Welcome to Gravity Falls” Looking towards each other one more time they both sat in silence for the rest of the ride to the Gravity Falls bus station.

 

Pulling up to the bus station the twins looked out the window, spotting their ragtag family and friends that had gathered to greet them.  

 

“Kiddo!” Grunkle Stan shouted with what anyone else would have sworn was tears of joy in his eyes as Mabel ran off the bus and jumped into his outstretched arms shouting just as loudly “Grunkle Stan!” almost knocking him to the ground. Laughing, everyone else just watched as the old man hugged Mable tightly and grinned ear to ear.

 

Dipper came struggling off of the bus a few moments later, carrying all of their combined suitcases. Stepping off the bus he let out a short huff and stopped to catch his breath under the mountain of suitcases.

 

“Mable! A little help over here!” Just as he said that one of the top suitcases fell, knocking a worn-out brown lumberjack hat off of his head. Mabel and the rest of the group turned around at the sound of his voice. As she spun to rush to her brother’s aid her and the rest of the group cried out “Dipper!” as they all now rushed to help the now almost full grown man with the mountain of luggage.

 

After they had somehow managed to put all of the suitcases into Grunkle Stan and Ford’s car Dipper and Mabel turned around to look at the friends and family they hadn’t seen in seven long years. Grunkle Stan and Ford looked almost the exact same as when they had last seen the twins, except this time they seemed to be getting along much better than before, much to Mabel’s liking. Soos stood next to his now pregnant wife Melody, with the Mister Mystery hat still on his head and a goofy grin still plastered on his face. As Mabel looked over to Dipper she saw him and Wendy high-five each other and switch back hats. Seeing Dipper in the worn-out and faded blue cap gave Mabel a strange sense of nostalgia which quickly faded away when she heard her now friend (after seven years of keeping in touch with the twins it was safe to say that Pacifica was considered a close friend to both) shout, “I’m so glad you guys are back!”

 

“Yeah little dudes, we’ve missed ya.” The now short-haired redhead playfully punched them both in the arm while chiming in.

 

“Hey!” Dipper pouted in a very unmanly way, “You can’t call us little anymore.”

 

“Why not?” Wendy just decided to ignore Dipper as she turned towards her own car, “Now come on guys let's get moving!” Before Dipper could respond Wendy and everyone else but Mabel and him had hopped into their cars, ready to head back to the Shack.

 

Dipper grumpily mumbled, “I’m like six inches taller than you that's why.”

 

“Aww come on bro-bro just because you are an almost 6 foot _giant_ and finally all manly and whatnot doesn’t mean you have to rub it in anyone’s face, besides…” a sly grin began to form on Mabel’s face, “... you may be three inches taller than me but i’m still the ALPHA TWIN!!!!” Mabel began to shout as she sprinted to beat Dipper to the Stanmobile. Grinning Dipper rushed to beat her, which resulted in them both reaching the car at the same time.

 

“Darn it!” Dipper looked at his sister with a childish expression of disappointment, “Looks like we’re still tied for alpha twin, maybe next time.” Mabel grinned at Dipper’s snarky response.

 

Grinning, she mumbled as they got into the Stan-Mobile and began the ride back to the Mystery Shack. “This summer’s gonna be interesting.”

  


*somewhere in the woods near Gravity Falls*

  


_“I nto’d anwt ot itaw nya golren. tNo veen hsote niPse anc peke EM aded!”_ Buried in the undergrowth, cracked, and chipped there was a stone statue of the “dead” dream demon Bill, but inside that statue a small part of his demonic soul had rested for the past seven years.

 

Right before his “death” Bill had managed to cast a spell that would bring him back, although his return to full awareness was still incomplete, as his words and thoughts became scrambled. Still, he was becoming more and more aware every day.

 

Slowly Bill had gained strength and simmered in anger as he slowly began to gain more consciousness. Soon Bill would have enough power to break out of his stone encasing and retreat to the mindscape to gain even more power. In order to do that though, he would have to cast a spell with most of the energy he had gained, then he would not only be free, but have a body as well.

 

Of course, there was a catch. He knew that something or someone living and breathing had to touch his prison. Granted it didn’t sound like much, but when you are a centuries old evil dream demon you tend to give off a very sinister aura that made it so the birds were too scared to even poop on you, none the less have some other magical creature willingly touch you. The other problem was the magic he was using made it so he would take the same form as whatever species touched him, meaning he was stuck pondering the creature that would work best for his new form.

 

“ _Maybe a manitaur?_ ” He began to question as his thoughts began to sort themselves out, _“No, they are too hideous for me to be stuck as. Gnomes are too small… maybe i’ll be lucky and a vicious carnivore will touch me, oooooh that will be fun._ ” Bill was almost ready to cast his spell, and when he was released he knew who he was going after first.

 

_“I guess whatever form makes Pine Tree and Shooting Star scream in terror the most will be perfect.”_

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first fanfic, so please don't be afraid to comment on anything you notice, I might not catch some small details and would appreciate the help. Thanks for reading this!!


	2. Return to the Falls: Pt 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, sorry this took a while to post. Thank you so much for all the response I've already gotten. Fair warning, do not be afraid to comment, I don't have a Beta reader so I'd love some help from the people reading this to point out any spelling or grammatical errors I make. Wow. This chapter is twice as long as the last one, it was either two short and kind of stretched out chapters or one nice big one, so this is what you guys get. Thank You for reading, and on with the story!

* * *

 

       Soos and Melody had offered to lend the Pines Twins their old room back for the summer until they could find an apartment to live in that was closer to college. This meant that the two would be heading back to the Mystery Shack once again, there at the Shack there was one more reunion in store. Before Grunkle Stan could hit the brakes Mabel had already jumped out of the car and sprinted towards the front door. From there a much larger Waddles squealed in excitement as he crashed through the door to meet her halfway. She collapsed on the ground hugging him.

      “I’m soooo sorry I had to send you back here all on your own Waddles.” Mable was holding tightly onto the pig as he snorted reassuringly back.

      “Thank you for not being too mad… I missed you too.” At this point it seemed as if she was about to burst into tears.

      In order to prevent a meltdown in the middle of the woods Grunkle Stan came up and put a hand on her shoulder, once she looked up at him he gave her a caring smile before speaking up, “Hey Kiddo, trust me that spoiled pig has been doing a-okay living here. I’m sure he understood that a small house in Piedmont would not be a proper place for an adult pig, sure it was fine when he was still small, but here he gets all the room in the world to run around causing trouble and breaking stuff.”

      Mabel brushed her sleeves against her watering eyes to help clear them up before grinning, “Thanks for you and Ford agreeing to take care of him.”

      “Trust me Kiddo, if we are willing to go through an apocalypse for you I think we can and are plenty willing to take care of your pig.” Grunkle Stan had averted his eyes as he mumbled the words, if he had kept on looking at Mabel maybe he would have noticed how her complexion suddenly paled or how her smile suddenly began to quiver at the edges. Before he could look over at her though Mabel quickly got up and returned to normal as she strided over to the car to help Dipper with their bags.

      The rest of the afternoon went by with very few hitches as the twins began to settle back down into the Mystery Shack. They had offered to help out there over the summer, since now technically being adults the two felt bad about just living there and not doing something to help the others compensate for the extra mouths to feed. Although Soos still insisted on paying them saying that it wasn’t that big of a deal and they were happy to have them back. Neither one of them had begun to unpack and Mabel figured she would just start unpacking the next day.

      Before Dipper and Mabel went to sleep in their old, (and knowing Stan) probably cheap beds they both reached into one of their bags, pulling out small containers that rattled as they moved.

      Each of them plucked a tiny white oval out of the container before Mabel slightly raised hers saying in a posh accent “A toast! To our return to Gravity Falls, the craziest and greatest place on Earth.” Dipper raised his in response and then they simultaneously popped the small ovals into their mouths and swallowed. They looked out the triangle shaped attic window one more time before Dipper grimaced and lay down to sleep. As Mabel looked out the window thousands of questions and emotions swirled throughout her head, pounding on her temples and whispering _“What… who… where… safe?”_ Before she could think more about her questions Mabel turned away from the window and began to drift off into a hopefully dreamless sleep.

* * *

 

**In the Middle of the Woods**

 

     He sat there, feelings of both anticipation and boredom swirled around inside of Bill as he began counting down the amount of time needed before he would finally have collected enough magical power from the surrounding area to cast his spell.

      “10, 9, 8, I’m so close I can taste revenge… 7, Wait? Will my new form even have taste buds? 6, 5, 4, 3, yes… 2, Yes, 1 YES! Now for the spell.” As he began to chant the words of a language so ancient that no living human could even find record of the woods fell silent. It was as if the entire forest and its inhabitants were waiting with bated breath for him to finish, too scared to try and interrupt the dream demon during this crucial point in his entrapment. The magic Bill had stored up inside of him began to seep throughout the stone prison giving his subconscious the ability to finally see where his stone hell was located.

      As the small clearing began to flicker into view in front of him Bill finished the chanting, and with a final tug he could feel the magic he weaved grow taut as it began to lie in wait inside of him. At that moment he felt like a predator, waiting for his prey to walk just close enough that they would brush his prison and then he could springfree, taking his much awaited revenge on the world.

      The problem with being ready to strike at any moment though is that, your prey also becomes more aware, and therefore more wary of any dangers nearby.

      “Hopefully something will be dumb and desperate enough to touch me soon so I can get this over with…”

 

Timeskip brought to you by Mabel left home alone with a bedazzler gun

 

    It had been three days since Mabel had returned to Gravity Falls alongside Dipper, and things were already returning to normal. Mabel had still put off unpacking all of her stuff saying that she would just do it later, even though Dipper offered to help her unpack twice in the past day alone. Although soon unpacking would be the least of her worries.

      Now though, Mabel was sitting on the old sofa petting Waddles as she watched old reruns of Ducktective. Dipper was out with Pacifica claiming that they just wanted to catch up since they would both be taking the same classes in college together. (Mabel was still surprised Paz decided to go into the paranormal and cryptozoology but apparently fighting a ghost and surviving the apocalypse can change a person.) In reality, she knew that they both had the hots for eachother and they were probably sitting down in the diner awkwardly glancing at eachother and failing to flirt miserably. At the thought of the awkward kind-of-kind-of-not-couple Mable smirked and whispered under her breath “those doofuses…”

        _Who would have ever thought my dork of a brother and the used to be oh so snobby Paz would find love before I do?_ That silent thought just reminded Mabel of all her past failed relationships, a list that had grown longer and longer throughout the years. As if by some miracle, before she could begin to sulk too much about her own failed love life Grunkle Ford walked in holding a very familiar looking weapon.

      “Hey Mabel?”

      “Yeah Grukle Ford? What is it?”

      “I know your old grappling hook broke a few years back, but I figured my niece might like this new one just as much.” He held out a shiney new grappling hook, similar to her old one but with some extra flair.

       Mabel grabbed it  and began to turn her gift over in her hands, her eyes shining brightly as she tested it out in her hands. It was perfect for her.

      “Thanks Grunkle Ford!” Curiously, she went to poke one of the buttons on the side.

      “WOAH THERE! Don’t hit that button inside.”

      “Why not?”

      “That button will release smoke to hide yourself in…”

     Mabel interrupted Ford with a loud squeal of excitement, “What does this one do? How about this one?!”

      Glad to see she liked the gift so much Grunkle Ford began to describe the other buttons in detail for her. One of them would produce a bright light to shine for either looking around or blinding an enemy, the other button would actually shoot sleeping darts into a target although for now he only had three to give her. Mabel spun to face Grunkle Ford, hugging him so tight he thought he'd explode.

“This is amazing. I can’t wait to try it out!”

      Ford looked out the window checking to see how much sunlight was left in the day.

      “There are a few hours until sundown, why don’t you take Waddles for a walk and test it out?”

      Her eyes lit up as she rushed to the front door with Waddles in tow shouting that she would be back soon. Ford smiled fondly as he watched her rush off into the nearby forest. It was great to be back in Gravity Falls, and having the twins around (especially Mabel’s constantly cheery attitude) helped to make it even more enjoyable.

      As time passed, it became increasingly darker (and more dangerous) in the forest, but Mabel was too busy playing with her new grappling hook to realise.

      “Dipper is going to be so jealous when he sees this baby!” Mabel was grinning ear to ear as she continued to adventure deeper into the forest.

      Waddles on the other hand was sensing danger approaching and began to trot nervously next to Mabel nudging her while trying to get her to turn and go home. She brushed him off as just being as excited as she was since that meant he got to walk around with her for a bit. Twenty minutes later Mabel finally looked up at her surroundings long enough to realise it was getting dangerously dark and would soon be night time. Before she could turn around to head back to Shack, Waddles began to panic letting out a high pitched squeal of terror before sprinting back in the direction of the Shack. At the same moment she began to chase him though, Mabel heard a loud rustling coming from right next to her, looking over she gasped in shock screaming “GREMLOBLIN!!!” Without thinking she began to sprint into the forest, with an angry monster chasing at her heels.

 

* * *

 

       Bill was officially tired of waiting.

       For a demon that has existed for near eternity he felt as if this waiting was a true eternity. If he didn’t know any better he would have used a summoning spell to just summon as many animals to him as possible, at this rate taking the form a squirrel for a few decades to gain enough power seemed almost perfect, at this point ANYTHING would be better than his stone prison.

      “This is pure Hell. No, this is much worse, Hell is much much more comfortable than th-”

      “EEEEEEEK!!!!”

      What was that!? BIll wondered as his mind was sent reeling by a shriek that surely would have pierced his ears had he had any. His limited vision made it so he couldn’t turn to look although luckily for him, the source of the horrid noises had just stepped into his view, along with a very ticked off Gremloblin.

      “Well, well, well at least I get to watch a stupid human get torn to pieces… this will be fun.” Just as that thought passed through him his “eye” widened (A.N. physically speaking it didn’t because hey, it's stone, buuuuut I think you got that on your own. Sorry) he watched the human (which he determined to be female) take a step back, a step closer to his stone.

      “No. No. NO I DO NOT WANT TO A SQUISHY DISGUSTING HUMAN! GET AWAY DO NOT TOUCH MEEEEE!” Bill was screeching in disgust and anger as the human backed even closer to him, unable to hear what he was saying inside of this stone prison. The woman stepped back from the Gremloblin one more time, before reaching behind her to steady herself and brushing the stone with her fingertips.

      A blinding light caused the Gremloblin to scamper off as Bill began to reform, unaware of the human standing to the side in shock. As his feet hit the ground he began to stomp in frustration, without even stopping to look at his new body he began screaming in anger about how disgusting humans were and didn’t stop until he heard a loud gasp. Turning to go and kill whatever insufferable human gave him his new humiliating form he began to curse out loud at them.

      When he looked into the eyes of the woman still standing there he paused mid-sentence, “I can’t believe you disgusting human would dare fu...fu… Shooting Star?!” Those hazel eyes were very familiar and he had only seen one person with those large bright eyes before. Mabel Pines.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, I made Bill be a total whining child. I just have this feeling he is the type of person who would throw a total hissy fit if he didn't have his way.  
> I'm going to try and post once a week, but I guess we will find out how that goes won't we. Once again do not be afraid to comment and thank you to those of you who have given me Kudos, bookmarked, and/or subscribed to this.


	3. Catching a Star (and making some deals)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, I finally got this chapter out. Sorry it came out a day later than I planned, but official XC practices started this week and I'm just trying to get used to getting up at 5:30 every day to run 5+ miles. I'll try to be back on track next week. So because of that this chapter gets to be extra long (half of this was filler I wrote while trying to not leave any plot holes).  
> Thank you to everyone that has read and kudos'd and bookmarked/subscribed to this.

* * *

****

**Mabel’s POV**

That strange man throwing a temper-tantrum just a few feet away from her had not been in the clearing a second ago, and at this point that was about all Mabel even understood. Her mind was still reeling after what just happened.

**Flashback**

The Gremloblin had been chasing her for a good hour it felt like (although it couldn’t have been over ten minutes now that she thought of it). She remembered weaving between ever growing numbers of trees, stumbling over fallen branches and scattering an ever shrinking number of animals. The Gremloblin on the other hand was relentless. Although she refused to look back at it in fear of tripping she could hear it smashing through trees and roaring as it slowly gained on her. Thoughts were flying through her head…

_ “I have to get away from it.”  _ She stumbles, almost falling to the ground.

“ _ CRAP! Dipper would know what to do”  _ Its roar is louder than before, it's gaining ground and fast. 

" _No no no no no no… I need something to scare it off, some kind of weap-_ **GRAPPLING HOOK!”** Before the words had even left her throat she began to grasp for the gift tied to her waist. As soon as she had it in her hands Mabel turned around to hit the Gremloblin with a sleeping dart. Before she could celebrate her opportunity it was crushed by the realization that the woods were too thick for her to to get a clear shot on the beast which was currently bashing its way past the trees to get to Mabel. 

_ “Shoot! Now what?”  _ It was getting closer, she began to run again.

_ “I need to find a clearing to I can actually get a good shot at it.”  _ Looking around she was able to spot the light of the full moon shining through the trees no more than a hundred yards away. 

_ “I can make it!” _  With that idea propelling her forward Mabel sprinted as fast as she could to what she could only hope was a clearing up ahead. As she burst from the trees with her grappling hook in hand Mabel silently hoped that the Gremloblin would decide to just leave her alone. To her dismay though it burst through the trees into the clearing, before suddenly coming to a stop just a few feet away and staring her down. 

She took a step back, loading the dart into position. The monster took one step forward.

Another step back. She held up the grappling hook. It took another step closer to her. 

One more step back. Mabel noticed a strangely shaped stone behind her. The clearing began flooding with tension, fear, and something else she couldn’t place.

This time as she stepped back she pulled the trigger as well. Her eyes widened in horror as Mabel realized she had forgotten to actually set the grappling hook to dart mode, so instead of hitting the Gremloblin with a sleeping dart as intended the hook shot out and bounced right off of its chest. It hunched over in pain, but quickly looked back up to her with a murderous look in its eyes. The Gremloblin started to stumble towards her, it's bulking size beginning to take over her view. As Mabel began backing away in terror she reached out to steady herself on the stone behind her.

The moment her hand came in contact with the stone she felt a white hot pain shot into her arm and course through her body. The stone emitted a blinding light which sent the Gremloblin running into the woods in fright. Mabel on the other hand was unable to move, it was as if her hand had been fused onto the stone. As quickly as it had begun, both the pain and light vanished. Instead she heard someone shouting at the top of their lungs next to her. 

**End of Flashback**

Now that Mabel’s nerves had settled down enough she looked at the unknown man screaming and stomping his foot. The first thing she noticed was his suit, the man was in the middle of a forest during the summer and he was wearing a SUIT?!  _ “It's so… bright.” _ was all Mabel could think when she noticed the bright yellow color of his suit jacket, which stood in stark contrast to the dark colors of the rest of his suit. She could tell just by looking that this man was just trying too hard to be suave as indicated by the fancy bow tie, silk top hat, and his smoothed back golden hair. 

What caught her attention the most though was the familiarity of his voice. It was a bit deeper than she remembered, but still had that slightly higher pitch to it. That voice had haunted her nightmares for the past seven years, and hearing it once again caused her to gasp in dread. 

The man had apparently heard her, because the next thing she knew he had turned towards her and began shouting obscenities at her. But once he actually looked into her eyes they both paused. Her heart began to pound, although one eye was covered with an eyepatch the other one housed a familiarity…

Only one _person_ had a yellow snake like eye like this man, and he was long dead. 

“B-Bill?” Mabel’s breath hitched as she whispered that dreaded name. 

“Sh-Shooting Star?!” The man seemed equally surprised, but that nickname he gave her could only mean one thing. Bill was alive, and he was standing right in front of her. 

Mabel felt her vision begin to fade as old memories she had tried to bury began to surface. Before she knew it she began to fall, before she even hit the ground darkness enveloped her, leaving the last thing she saw being a now human Bill grinning like a maniac. 

* * *

  


**Bill POV**

Oh what luck! He almost couldn’t believe his eyes for a minute there, it was a now adult Shooting Star lying on the ground right in front of him. 

“Well, well, well… what do we have here” his temper tantrum from just a few moments ago was replaced by a calm and erie confidence. 

He smirked as he pressed a black gloved hand to his cheek and cooed, “Could it really be? The same person who helped imprison me was the very same one who released me.” Looking down at the passed out young woman he realized he had to do something to milk this moment, to savor the fact that he had her in the palm of his hands. Quickly he devised a plan that would ensure he would have full control of the Pines family, which he could only hope was also as alive as their precious  _ Mabel _ . 

As Bill took a step forward in order to get a closer look at his soon to be captive he stumbled cursing “Damn! Stupid human legs. Haven’t had one of these bodies in a few years.” 

After steadying himself he glared at Shooting Star before mumbling, “Thanks a lot brat, now I’m stuck with this body until my next untimely near-demise.” Snapping his fingers she was enveloped in a pale blue light and brought to hover near him.

" _Lets hope I have enough power left to get us back to the dreamscape in one piece Shooting Star, otherwise your family is just getting a lifeless bag of flesh.”_ Bill grinned at the thought of their faces if they were to see such a carnage left outside their doorstep, maybe he’d even add a fun little bow to create a nice macabre gift. With such a wonderful thought still fresh in his mind he snapped his fingers once again. Both him and Mabel vanished into the night with a blinding flash.

  


**_Timeskip brought to you by Waddles watching Bill eat bacon in disgust_ **

  


It had been around two days since Bill had kidnaped Shooting Star, and he decided that now would be the perfect time to go get her from her “room” and show her off to the other Pines. Not wanting to waste any time getting to the fun part of his day he decide to teleport himself into her room instead of  _ walking _ (although he did manage to relearn how to walk properly he still did not like to do such a mundane task). The room he appeared in was a large dungeon with a cage in the very center.  _ “Afterall...” _ Bill thought to himself  _ “I’ve always had a flair for the dramatic.” _ He floated over to the cage, with his back parallel to the ground as he lounged in midair in front of his trembling prisoner. 

In an all too cheery voice he shouted, “Get up Shooting Star! You get to see your precious Pine Tree and stupid uncles!” With every word he spoke his eyes glinted in mad delight as Bill watched her cringe in fear. He noted in the back of his head that she didn’t look like she had slept at all since she had first woken up in the dreamscape.  _ “Huh… I thought humans needed more sleep? Oh, well!” _ He then turned his attention away from that small concern and back to the actual woman herself. 

Mabel refused to move from her spot, instead opting to sit there shaking, with tears beginning to form at the corners of her eyes. Bill on the other hand just rolled his one eye in disgust, “Listen here,” Bill stated in a commanding tone, tapping his ebony black cane on the bars.

"I said GET UP!” he paused, waiting for some kind of response.

“H-ha-hur… hurts…” Mabel seemed incapable of saying much, instead she sat there mumbling about pain and holding herself tightly. 

" _She is so much less fun than I remembered.”_ Bill thought to to himself as he watched her.  _ “I’ve only held her here for two days, she shouldn’t even be dehydrated yet. And I haven’t tortured her yet so what is up with this pain she keeps on mumbling about? Is it the fun type of pain?”  _ Bill was now thoroughly confused, Shooting Star wasn’t doing anything. At least when she released him she showed some emotion even if it was just fear and dread it was still much more entertaining than her current blank yet pained stare. With a resigned sigh Bill decided it would work best if he just quickly invaded her mindscape, just to see what was going on before he took his bait to his prey. 

As soon as he entered Mabel’s mindscape he was almost immediately pushed out by a wave of painfully blinding bright lights. That should have been expected since it was Mabel’s mind afterall. The problem was that those lights were not some sickly neon eighties lights, but were rapidly flashing colors of deep yet bright bloody crimson, pinks, purples, and greens reminiscent of Weirdmageddon, and his own special shade of yellow. He quickly brushed off any implications of what he had just seen having been anything more than a way for her to keep him out of her actual thoughts. 

He now stood directly in front of Mabel, staring down at the quivering woman his voice losing any and all hints of delight in it from before he darkly whispered, “Listen here Shooting Star.”

Bill roughly grabbed her arm, “You are coming with me to go see your OH SOOO precious family” Bill’s voice dripped with a cold venomous tone as he yanked her too her feet. Before she could even whimper in protest he had transported them both into the Mystery Shack dining room.

Gathered around the table that he and Mabel were now standing on was a shocked group of people many of which he recognised as being part of the prophetic zodiac meant to destroy him. There was that annoying yet impressively strong-willed Corduroy girl holding the hand of that goth boy he remembered  Pine tree constantly fought. Off to the side was that fat man baby holding woman he did not recognise. When he heard a sudden sob come from behind him he spun around to face the platinum blonde Northwest holding a hand to her mouth as she looked at the worn and pained expression on Mabel’s face. Right next to the Northwest was a sight at made him grin, showing off his new set of pearly white teeth, there was a shocked Pine Tree standing next to a much older set of annoying twins. 

“Well, then!” Bill announced in a much too cheery tone, “I can’t believe you  _ ALL _ came here just to see  _ ME! _ I hope you don’t mind, but I brought a guest.” With that he flourished a hand wave towards the girl currently being held up limply by his outstretched arm. 

Pine Tree was the first to react by screaming “MABEL!” as he lunged to get her out of Bill’s grasp. As soon as his fingers brushed her arm Bill clicked his tongue, sending Mabel floating into the air out of their grasp. 

"Now now Pine Tree, it isn’t nice to ignore the guest of honor.” Bill waggled his pointer finger at Dipper as he bent over him, scolding him as if he was still twelve years old. 

“How are you back? Give me my sister!” Dipper was shouting as he tried to tackle the dream demon. Bill simply sidestepped the young man’s charge before snapping his fingers and freezing everyone in the room. 

"Watch out there Pine Tree. Curiosity killed the cat remember?” Bill could feel everyone’s eyes follow him as he calmly hopped off the table, landing a little off balance as he laughed.

“Ya know, I’m still trying to get a hold of this new body situation. In fact your sister over there is the reason why I am standing in front of you right now, so let’s give her a round of applause.” Bill clapped slowly as he strode over to where Dipper now stood. Now standing in front of him, Dipper could see the deceptive glint in Bill’s eye as he leaned in close to Dipper who was despite his height still shorter than Bill by a couple of inches. 

Bill leaned in even closer to Dipper, until his lips were right next to Dipper’s ear, “In fact Pine Tree, I’m so grateful for her helping me I think I’m going to hold onto her for a bit.” Bill watched with a cruel sense of joy as Dipper’s eyes slightly widened. He looked over to see that the elderly Pines twins had heard his comment as well, and were glaring at him with all of their might. He knew he had them now, they would do anything to protect their precious Shooting Star, and that’s exactly what he wanted. 

“Of course I am willing to giver her back to you, all I need is for you to reopen the portal for me. Oh and don’t worry…” He glanced over at the real Stanford Pines before continuing, “Old Sixer over here should remember  _ exactly _ how to rebuild it, and I’m sure the con artist remembers how he put it together as well. All you need to do is build that for me and stay out of my way, and she will be all yours again.” 

With a wave of his hand Dipper now fully unfrozen. He stood to full height as he looked the Dream Demon in the eye saying “Nice try, but if you are going to try this on me you need to promise that no harm will come to Mabel, I want to make sure she is safe. That means I want her to be comfortable, she needs to eat a proper amount of food, and if I find out that you so much as hurt a hair on her head I will kill you.” Bill was surprised by the amount of conviction the young man’s voice held, but he also knew just by looking at him that Pine Tree knew he had no other choice. Smiling once again Bill decided to play along with his requests. 

Holding out a hand enveloped in blue flames he looked Dipper dead in the eyes and said “Okay then Pine Tree. The deal is simple. You promise to build me a fully functioning portal to the other dimension then give it over to me, and I promise that no physical harm will come to Mabel by my own doing while I hold onto her.” A glare from Pine Tree made him shrug before half-heartedly adding “no harm physically or emotionally. Deal?” Dipper reached out and firmly shook Bill’s hand. The deal was done. 

Turning to the now semi-conscious Mabel Bill laughed before lowering her to the ground and clutching her arm once more, but before he could transport back to the dreamscape Pine Tree decided to butt in again by shouting “WAIT!” 

“It’s too late a deal’s a deal Pine Tree!” Bill turned to glare at him. 

Reaching into a cabinet Dipper threw a small yellow container at Bill, which he deftly caught before looking at Dipper quizzically. “What is this?” Bill was becoming impatient he did not want to be there any longer but Pine Tree would not stop. 

“If Mabel is going to be safe, she’ll need that.” Dipper looked at him with a defeated look before stealing a glance at his limp sister. 

On that note, Bill took this as his chance to finally leave, as he was already starting to feel the effects of being in this dimension for as long as he had been with so little power at his control. Waving his hand all of the other people in the room began moving at once, with Stanley and Sixer charging towards him. Before they had reached the table Bill snapped his fingers and disappeared in a blinding flash, leaving all the people gathered there to stand in confusion before deciding to head down into the basement first thing tomorrow morning. 

Now standing back inside his home in the dreamscape Bill tossed Mabel onto a couch that had only ever been used as decoration before looking at the bottle in his hands which read “Sertraline”. He glanced over at Mabel and mumbled under his breath “I guess she needs some water huh?” With that thought in mind Bill wandered off to see if he could remember if he even had a kitchen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of you who know what the bottle of medicine I mentioned is can probably guess why Mabel needs it, and for those of you who don't... trust me the answers will come soon enough.
> 
> I gave a pretty vague description of Bill in here, but this is because I feel that with where everyone is right now Mabel would not really care to actually check Bill out, and likewise for why I haven't given many details on Mabel besides the basics as well. Don't worry I'll make sure to give a better description for what Bill looks like... once I figure that out myself *shrugs* 
> 
> I'm also testing out changing POV's and I promise that I will not try to repeat a scene like I did in the beginning of this chapter from another POV unless I feel that it would be worthwhile for the reader to see the situation from both sides.
> 
> Welp thanks for reading this and I hope you all stick with it, don't forget to kudos and/or comment if you liked this or have any suggestions getting those along with bookmarks and subscriptions really help make me want to actually write a good story for you all. THANKS AGAIN!!!
> 
> \- EmeraldQueeny P.S. Ignore the notes under this one, AO3 is being a jerk and those notes went with the first chapter. I'll try and fix it.


	4. You Don't Understand

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHHHH! I'M SO SORRY THIS TOOK ME SO LONG TO POST! I'll explain myself after the chapter, but first...   
> WARNING: ANGST, angst and anger everywhere, I'm talking a waterfall of this stuff, this wasn't supposed to happen but here it is the angry angst chapter.

* * *

 

**Mabel's POV**

She wasn’t sure what exactly happened. The only thing Mabel knew was that she was tired and hungry. The painful flashbacks and memories had stopped after a while and her mind had begun to clear. She remembered floating above the poker table in the mystery shack and watching helplessly as Dipper made some sort of deal with Bill, other than that, she could barely even remember what had happened back there. Now though, she was laying on a couch in the middle of a large and extravagant room that she had never been in. Needless to say, Mabel was confused.

As Mabel turned to lie on her back she examined the room she was currently in. To say the room was extravagant seemed to almost downplay it. It was a giant room, almost the size of the entire Mystery Shack it seemed. The walls were a creamy white with golden accents elegantly running along the edges, on the far wall there was a large decorative ebony black fireplace that had more golden accents running along the surface like veins. Surrounding that were more seats which all seemed to match the rest of the room. 

Before Mabel could take in the beauty of her surroundings she heard what sounded like a frustrated grumble come from…  _ above? _ As she finally turned her head to look up at where the strange noise came from she looked directly into Bill’s one golden eye before shooting into the sitting position while screaming. As she shot up Mabel’s head slammed into the head of the man hovering a few inches above her once once sleeping self. 

“Ow-ow-ow-OW” Mabel fell off the couch as she held her forehead. 

“Hahaha pain… ouch…. What the hell Shooting Star?!” Bill lightly poked his forehead where a small bump was already forming, relishing the pain he thought to be so fun. Although he still sat there glaring unhappily at Mabel. 

“Why were YOU standing over me like a CREEP!?” Mabel was more than terrified at this point, but unlike before she now had adrenaline pumping through her veins as she leapt up to fight him. As she stood, she tried to charge him as he continued to poke the welt on his head. She took a few steps before slipping and falling on the floor once more. Only then did she realize how exhausted she was from not eating or drinking in the past… she had no idea how long she had been under Bill’s control and in the Dreamscape. 

Just as that realization dawned on her, Bill floated over to where she was lying collapsed on the floor, smirking he settled his feet onto the floor before bending over Mabel grinning. 

“Listen here Shooting Star, you and I both know I’d love to watch you flail and hit your head on countless sharp and painful objects any time of day, but sadly I need you alive and in relatively good condition, so stop embarrassing yourself and get some water.” As he spoke Bill directed Mabel’s attention away from him and to a tantalizing pitcher of what she could only hope was water sitting on a table just a few feet away. Before she could muster up the energy to say anything using her draining adrenaline rush he continued by simply shrugging and saying nonchalantly, “You humans are so weak, only lasting three days without water, you’ve been here for two and if you die early i’m not gonna get a proper revenge.” 

_ “It’s only been two days?”  _ Mabel thought to herself bewildered.  _ “It feels like I’ve been here for a decade already.” _  She felt too tired to even sit up, none-the-less get up and make her way to the pitcher of water. Expectantly she looked from Bill to the pitcher and back inwardly praying he would at least have the courtesy to give it to his apparently “important enough to keep alive” captive. After almost twenty seconds of this Bill’s eye widened in realization of what she wanted. He released his hands from behind his back as he watched her hopeful gaze carefully before making his way to the pitcher. 

As his hand hovered above the handle of the jar he looked back over to the expectant Mabel before smirking and letting his hands drop as he hovered back over to the couch where she had once lain. Confusion filled Mabel’s face and head before he began laughing while lounging on the couch, between fits of laughter he looked her in the eyes and said “Did you REALLY…  _ snrk _ … think that I…  _ Hahaha _ … me, the one and only BIll CIPHER would…  _ ahahaha _ … just hand you the water when I could just watch you struggle?!”

Defeat flashed across Mabel’s face as he continued “Oh Shooting Star, my death and imprisonment haven’t made me any nicer. I just need to stick my end of the deal, which is keeping you alive.” She watched him lean back farther into his seat, still snickering as he watched her expectantly. All she could do was let out a sigh as she began the slow and painful crawl towards water, only a few feet away but feeling like an impossible task in her weakened state. 

* * *

 

**Bill’s POV**

 

He couldn’t believe it, sure Shooting Star wasn’t as smart as old Sixer and Pine Tree, but come on. Thinking that he would suddenly after  **kidnapping** her decide to help her by bringing her the water jug was just pathetic. He watched with delight as she slowly crawled towards the jug, inching closer and closer by the minute. After just six minutes of watching her crawling she finally reached the table (he was thinking ten minutes at least). Bill smiled in malicious content as he watched her scramble to grab the water jug, hunger lusting in her eyes. Water dribbled down her chin as she slurped the water down, barely pausing to breath before choking down more of it. After that horrific slurping was over he snapped his fingers and a plate of bread and some grapes appeared next to her. Although he did enjoy watching as his new pawn struggled to reach the water she so desired, he also did not want to have to waste another six minutes watching her get there. This time before he could say anything she began to hungrily nibble at the food knowing she would only get sick if she ate it too quickly. 

As Shooting Star continued to chew away at her food Bill pulled the orange bottle out of his pocket that Pine Tree had thrown him a few hours earlier. His eye lazily wandered over the label before coming to rest at the name of the pills it contained. 

“Sertraline” Bill pondered the name while mumbling it under his breath, as he used his all knowing abilities to find out what they were for and why Shooting Star needed them. “If this is some trap that will make her some crazy superhuman there is no way Shooting Star is getting these babies” As he said that, Bill snapped his fingers before flying through the mindscape trying to find a person whose mind would have the answers. 

Nineteen minutes later, (much to his disappointment Bill was a bit rusty) he managed to return to his own dreamscape home before turning to look at Shooting Star who was too busy eating to even notice he had left her. Clearing his throat in order to get her attention he glared at her harshly while waiting for her to look over at him. When she finally decided to acknowledge him, he simply held up the bottle expectantly, waiting for her to tell him why she needed them and why Pine Tree was so intent on her needing it.

Shooting Star just sat on the ground looking at him with what he could only assume was a mixture of fear and guilt.

“Well Shooting Star?” He just stood there holding the bottle and waiting for her explanation.

“Just give them to me.” Mumbling, she cautiously glanced around the room.  

“Why do you have these?” Bill began to grow impatient, “Tell me why I should give you these and not just throw them all away. Why do you need them?!” Bill’s voice was rising as her only got more and more impatient. 

“Please…” It was clear she did not want to tell Bill, although at this point he was too curious and furious with her to care.

“Fine! What is it then?!”

“Just, please” she shook her head.

“Is the happy go lucky girl Depressed?!” 

“P-please” she glanced down for a bit longer.

“Maybe it’s OCD huh!?” He began to turn a slight crimson.

“Or how about Panic Disorder? Huh?! Do you panic much!? Bill began to hover over her as his changed to a boiling dark red color in his growing anger.

“I-I…” Her breathing became rapid, but Bill did not care or notice as he continued on his angry rampage to know the truth.

“Oh PLEASE! Don’t tell me YOU have that PTSD. Nothing traumatic ever even happened to YOU or PINE TREE!” At this point Bill was anything but calm, he watched the girl quiver in front of him before he continued. “Did your pathetic brother lie to me?!” Every word was spit out like poisonous daggers at her. 

Immediately after he had said those final words though, Bill realised that he had gone too far. Mabel could handle insults thrown at herself, she had the uncanny ability to brush them off with ease, but if you insulted her brother… Bill remembered watching her go after those who insulted him with a chaotic malice enough to rival his own, even though she would just call it “fun”. But, she didn’t do that instead she stopped trembling and looked up.

Her eyes… those usually bright and warm hazel eyes were blank, dull, and cold; but behind that he saw a raging fire. Oh yes, he had gone much too far. She stared at him for what seemed like another dreadful eternity until she quietly spoke.

“No” Her eyes, they bore into his own bright red one.

“Don’t you ever say that about Dipper.” Her voice, it was too calm for someone who was just trembling and crying not less than a minute ago. She stood up, and coolly strode over to where the angry and slightly worried dream demon stood.

“He is not lying, and he is not pathetic…” Her eyes were no longer cold, no they were much worse now. They burned, with hatred, anger, and resolution.

She now stood almost eye to eye with Bill, his mind had gone blank as he could only watch the woman as she let pent up emotions begin to spill out. He was almost… scared.

“You… you’re the reason why I need those.” She pointed to the bottle still clenched in his fisted hand. Now her voice matched her eyes, it was burning and boiling over in fury.

Confused by what Shooting Star had just said, Bill tilted his head down towards her quizzically before asking “What did I do?” 

The look in her eyes said it all, he shouldn’t have asked that question. 

“You really don’t know what you did?!” She began to scream in his face, “How can you NOT?! We were TWELVE! You tortured us, tricked us, manipulated US. Dipper still has to explain the marks from when you possessed him! I have nightmares about Weirdmageddon thanks to  **YOU** !” With that final word she reached out and tore the bottle from Bill’s now loose hands. 

Bill had returned to his normal yellow as she continued yelling at him, but when she ripped the bottle from his hands all he could do was think “But, that was seven years ago...” With him still reeling from how quickly this encounter had gone downhill he ended up whispering those words out loud enough for her to hear. 

Enraged once more Mabel looked straight into his eye as her voice lowered to a dark whisper as she leaned closer towards the now thoroughly rattled demon. “Did you really think we’d forget?” There was disbelief in her voice.

Her voice lowered to a dark whisper, “You don’t just  _ forget _ . How could we forget?” 

Bill watched as tears streamed down her face, but she kept talking. “You don’t know what it’s like… to have constant nightmares, to have painful flashbacks, to try and hide what happened. You don’t understand… you don’t even understand and you are the one that caused it all.” As she said that her head ducked down so Bill could no longer see her eyes, until he noticed too late a fist barreling towards his still slack-jawed face. 

**_BAM!_ **

That was it. She had hit him. They both stared at each other in disbelief for a few moments until Bill felt rage cloud over him again. Grabbing her arm he once more gained control and leaned over her, hissing “Don’t you dare touch me you disgusting human. You are no more than a pawn, I don’t care about what you say or how you feel.” Now he held up his free hand glancing at it then back again to Mabel before continuing. 

“I should have done this a long time ago.” Expecting him to hit her, he watched as Shooting Star cringed and clenched her eyes shut before he snapped his fingers causing her to fall asleep. 

“Stupid deal making it so  _ I _ can’t hurt her, damn.” Bill muttered as he tried to figure out what to do next. He sat down on the couch holding his head in hand as he tried to process what had happened, and what he was going to do with her now. Bill stayed that way for a good half hour before standing up and making the sleeping girl float next to him. When he turned to look at her, Bill couldn’t help but notice that her face that was just less than an hour ago swirling with hundreds of emotions was now almost… peaceful. He hated it.

“A deal’s a deal.” Sighing, he started to walk down a hall towards a door that he had created just before the meltdown that had occurred in the other room. Swinging the door open, he lowered her sleeping form onto a bed before closing and locking the door behind him. 

As he left all Bill could do was mumble, “Maybe I don’t understand…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah. This started off as a fun light chapter, how did I end up with this. Actually that is one of the reasons I took so long to post this chapter, I got kind of scared. At the same time though I think it was important I established that these two are not going to fall instantly in love, Mabel is going to hate and fear Bill for what he did to her and Dipper and he is going to hate her and not understand what he did wrong. 
> 
> And yeah, I am kind of heavily implying Mabel and Dipper both have PTSD from what happened in Weirdmaggedon, but seriously they were 12. Them not having some type of deep mental/emotional scaring seems impossible.
> 
> I promise I am going to try and update soon to make up for how long this chapter took and the next one will (hopefully) be a bit lighter. 
> 
> Thank you for reading and hope to see you soon!  
> -Emerald Queen


	5. Playing with Fire... and thoughts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M BACK!
> 
> I'm really sorry this took so long for me to update, I thought I'd get a week or so until all the homework would start piling up from the start of school, but instead I already got 3-4 hours of homework a night from the first 3 days of school. So to make up for how long it took I just want to say sorry, and thank you to everyone who has encouraged me to continue writing through comments, bookmarks, and kudos. ENJOY

* * *

 

**Bill's POV**

 

After hearing Shooting Star relentlessly banging on the door for the past half hour, Bill was sick and tired of it. Getting up he mumbled curses under his breath and headed towards the door. Quickly, he reached into his pocket before pulling out a single key with a star on the end, twirling it on his fingers as he admired the handiwork he could create in the blink of an eye. As if she had somehow heard Bill coming Shooting Star stopped banging on the door once he approached it and went quiet. 

“Finally” was all Bill could mutter as he unlocked the door. Swinging it open he stepped inside the room, only to be hit in the gut by something very heavy. 

“ **OOF!** ” As he doubled over in pain, Bill watched Shooting Star out of the corner of his eye. She smacked her head as she groaned about still not being able to get some  _ sleeper shooting thing _ to work. Once she noticed Bill was still bent over in pain her eyes widened as Shooting Star looked at the now open door. As she began to sprint towards the door Bill used his magic to slam the door shut in her face. Snapping his fingers the door automatically locked itself as she began to rattle the knob of the door in desperation to get out. 

As the pain of being hit in the stomach by a five-pound grappling hook began to wear off, Bill stood up straight and watched as the girl finally gave up on trying to open the door. Dejectedly she dragged herself over to the bed where she sat down and looked at Bill before muttering, “What are you going to do with me?”

Now Bill watched her carefully in confusion and anger.  _ “She tried to escape! She hit ME!” _

She just sat there, watching him with wary and tired eyes expecting him to answer her question. Heck, he didn’t even know what he was going to do at this point. For someone who knows all, Bill had absolutely no idea what to do with her. Keeping her as a slave would mean he had control over her, but so did locking her back up in her cell. 

Sighing in defeat (although he would never admit it) Bill put on one of his charming grins (something his old triangle body couldn’t do) and said “Follow me Shooting Star!” in an almost too cheery voice for someone who had just been pulverised by a heavy metal projectile. Shooting Star was obviously surprised and annoyed by what he said, but before she could say anything he interupted by saying “Of course if you WANTED me to torture you for hitting me and trying to escape I can…” 

Bill’s last statement prompted an immediate and shaky response from her, “N-no thanks, I’ll c-come wh-with you.”

Her voice calmed down as she looked up at him with a small amount of defiance in her eyes and continued, “But, I do have a name and it’s Mabel ya know. I don’t like being called Shooting Star.” Bill watched her cringe as she let the name she hated so much slip through her lips. 

“Mabel shmable. It doesn’t matter Shooting Star, if I want to call you that I will.  You have no power over me, and the only way you’re going to get me to use your’  _ real  _ name…” Bill leaned in closer as he spoke in an all too calm manner, “... you’re going to have to do something very impressive.”

Smirking, Bill rolled back on his heels as he waited for  _ Shooting Star  _ to respond. Instead she just watched him, her anger visible on her now reddening face. Already tired of waiting, Bill headed back towards the now unlocked door, opening it and turning to face Shooting Star once more.

_ “If she is going to be staying here until Pine Tree can get the portal up and running I should probably give this annoying brat the grand tour.” _ Of course the more Bill even thought of having to be even somewhat nice to her the more he just wanted to throw-up (one of the many human experiences of pain that he had yet to encounter). 

“Well, are ya coming? If you’re going to be staying here I might as well give you a tour of your new…” grimacing Bill continued, “...  _ home _ …”  Her face still seemed to show signs of weariness and tiredness, but Mabel’s eyes shone with an unrecognizable light. Shrugging it off as curiosity once she began heading towards the door, Bill could only think to himself…

_ “This is going to be fun” _

* * *

 

**Mabel’s POV**

 

_ “This is going to be fun”  _

That was all Mabel could think as she began to walk towards Bill and the open bedroom door. She had decided that she would find some way to get the dream demon to call her by her name, and maybe give her some control of this dreamscape. (She had already tried to do what she had done when they had entered Grunkle Stan’s mind all those years ago and summon a portal out of Bill’s mindscape, but apparently he had made sure only he had control while in there.)

Mabel didn’t care what it took, she would make sure that Bill was going to go through a living hell while she was stuck living with him in the mindscape. If there was one thing about Mabel that hadn’t changed throughout the years, it would have to be the fact that she knew how to push people’s buttons. Bill and his ridiculously yellow suit were about to suffer the wrath of a spiteful Mabel.  

First, that meant she had to get out of the room. Thanks to Bill suddenly deciding to give her a tour that meant she didn’t even have to try busting down the door using her grappling hook as she had originally planned. Although, to say she was suspicious was a bit of an understatement. As Mabel walked towards the open door she waited for Bill to knock her out and drag her off to the cage-like dungeon she was in before. 

She stood at the door and stared out into the hallway, Mabel could feel Bill’s agitation of having been kept waiting for a while now as she had meandered towards the door. Steeling the last of her shaky nerves, Mabel stepped out into the hallway followed closely behind by Bill.

“Well. Whatcha waiting for Star?” Bill stood there with his all too cheery voice as hovered above the ground next to her.

“You’re the one giving me the  _ grand tour _ , I’m just waiting for you.” Smirking Mabel made sure to turn away from him before adding, “So hurry up  _ slowpoke _ .” Needless to say she could already tell she was grinding his gears.  _ “I’m playing with fire here. Gotta remember, just annoy him don’t get him too angry or you’ll get in trouble.”  _ They began walking down the hall as Mabel continued her inner pep talk,  _ “I just have to show him that i’m not going to go down without a fight, even if it means annoying the crap out of this psycho I’ll do it.” _

Now with her confidence in her abilities fully restored, Mabel began to watch Bill as he floated just ahead of her. He seemed unaware of her plans but she still made sure to stay at least three feet away and slightly behind him in order to avoid getting too close. Afterall, just because he was being  _ nice _ (if she could even call common hospitality nice) didn’t mean she was suddenly no longer scared of him or that he couldn’t turn around and rip her head off in an instant. As that terrifying imagery flashed through her head Mable shuddered in disgust, when Bill chose that instance to try and fail to stifle a laugh. 

Suspiciously Mabel watched him as his shoulders lightly shook before asking, “What’s so funny?” 

“Pfft!” Bill snorted out before turning to her with his too big for a normal human smile and replied calmly, “Oh, just remembering the good old days when I got a front row seat to the  _ beheading _ of Marie Antoinette. Ahhhh… good times.” He stared past her with a look on his face that Mabel could only compare to when someone remembers a fond summer memory, which creeped her out even more. 

_ “Come on girl! Don’t give in! You’re better than this! He’s just a dorito in a human body, yeah you got th-” _

“Well that’s enough for the memories, ‘ay Shooting Star?” Bill interrupted her train of thought by turning around and heading back to the tour, although not before turning to glare at her. 

“Anyways, humans need to eat right? Let’s see if I can remember where the kitchen is…” Bill floated ahead leaving Mabel to follow behind him once again. 

_ “Okay that’s IT! Now or never. Phase Two: Operation Annoy Cornchip starts NOW!”  _ With that resolution now firmly set in her mind Mabel spoke up for the first time since leaving her room “Soooo… Bill?”

Without even really acknowledging her Bill just mumbled “Yeah… what…” as he looked around the center room where their big fight had taken place just a few hours ago as he tried to remember which one of the many hallways that entered the room led to the kitchen. As he started floating towards one of the hallways Mabel continued, “Why don’t you ever walk?”

Bill stopped so suddenly that if it hadn’t been for the distance she made sure to put between them Mabel would have smacked right into him. Instead she just stopped and grinned as he just whispered in what seemed to be disbelief “What did you say?”

“Oh, did I not say it loud enough? Silly me.” Mabel decided to play dumb and continue by shouting “I said…  **WHY DON’T YOU WALK?!** ” with a grin still plastered on her face she added “ **DO YOU KNOW HOW?!** ” She could tell by the way Bill’s shoulders bunched up and his grip on his cane tightened that she had just hit a nerve.

Throwing in a dramatic gasp Mabel threw her hands up to her cheeks “OH MY GAWD! You can’t walk?!” That did it for Bill, the tips of his hair started to darken and his his suit began to be covered in small red veins that began bleeding into the yellow as he turned around, his eyes now orange and turning redder. 

“Listen here Shooting Star.” He was growling, Bill now hovered just a few inches from Mabel as he jabbed at her chest with his finger. “I am a being as old as time itself, and you even in Weirdmaggedon only saw a small bit of my powers! And you think I can’t  **WALK?!** I can walk over your grave and over everyone you’ve ever loved graves as well!” 

Mabel felt herself begin to shake, apparently Bill was a bit more short tempered than she had expected, he must have been on edge earlier but she had not realized it as she had been too busy focusing on either trying to escape or get petty revenge on him. 

Her eyes showed the fear she was trying to hide as he looked into them with his now almost red eye, his suit was the same blazing red as last time they had fought, and she now noticed his golden blond hair had become a deep reddish brown to match his angrier and darker look. She was expecting him to use magic to make her fall asleep like last time, or snap and break his deal and just kill her. Instead his eye widened as he looked into her fearful eyes. Almost immediately his anger seemed to fade as his eye returned to its  _ normal  _ yellow color. Bill quickly lowered his head before turning away from the still trembling Mabel and whispering in an almost ashamed tone, “You must be hungry… the kitchen is this way.” As he spoke Mabel watched as Bill’s feet touched the ground and his cane appeared in his hands and he began to hastily walk ahead of her. 

* * *

**Narrator POV**

Bill didn’t know why, but he felt this strange stinging in his chest, for what though he couldn’t tell. Maybe it was because of the fact he was thinking a lot of Weirdmaggedon and what he did there, but to him he still felt that he did nothing  _ wrong _ . Maybe it was about how he had now not only kidnaped Mabel but also lost his temper twice with her in the past day, but no she was the reason he was trapped in that stone prison in the first place so he felt she still deserved that. Still, when he looked into her terrified hazel eyes he couldn’t help but feel…  _ wrong _ . All of the anger just drained from him at that moment and he just felt  _ confused _ . 

Bill still hadn’t really noticed that he was no longer floating, and was now walking ahead of Mabel. He was too wrapped up in his thoughts to even notice. It wasn’t that he absolutely hated walking, it just… boring.  _ “Why walk when you can float?”  _ That's what Bill would always think to himself. Although he’d never admit it out loud, the real reason Bill never walked was it made him feel more alive, natural, more  _ human _ . That thought alone was enough to worry him, he was a demon, an evil, heartless, demon made of pure energy, there was nothing human about him. 

As Bill was busy drowning in thoughts, Mabel had finally managed to calm down enough to actually process her own thoughts and what was happening. After her ragged breathing had calmed down she heard a second set of footsteps when before she could have sworn it was only the light patter of her own. The second pair of footsteps was heavier than hers, and seemed to be a bit more unsteady as if the person making them wasn’t all that used to… well… walking. It was then that she noticed Bill wasn’t floating steadily ahead of her, but was walking (with a bit of unsteady trouble she realized). 

“What?” was all she could whisper as Mabel thought  _ “I didn’t think he’d actually walk! I was just trying to get on his nerves.” _

Her little “What?” must have been louder than Mabel thought because Bill snapped back out of his thoughts and into reality and replied by craning his neck to look at the woman behind him and letting out a questioning “Hm?”

“What?” Mabel responded just as confused.

“What?” Needless to say that got Bill even more confused than before. 

“What did you want Star?” He sounded so dull as he questioned Mabel, Bill’s usually loud voice was much more absentminded and quiet than usual. 

“Nothing. What did you want?”

“Thought you said something.”

“Nope. I thought you said something.” This conversation was going nowhere and was one of the few that hadn’t erupted in a fight yet. 

Mabel was so desperate for a distraction at this point that she almost breathed a sigh of relief when Bill stopped in front of a room announcing, “Here it is. The kitchen if you need food.” Bill absentmindedly wandered into the kitchen without waiting for her response leaving the door ajar, not really waiting for her to enter but also not slamming it in her face. 

As Mabel stepped in, she was surprised to find a relatively quaint kitchen when compared to the rest of the extravagant house (although she was still sure she couldn’t call something so grand a  _ house _ ). There was a single table off to the side with enough room for two people to sit at comfortably, and Bill was already slumped in a chair and staring at the opposite wall.

Now though, Mabel was slightly confused. Why did he even need a kitchen? Did dream demons need to eat? Couldn’t he just snap his fingers and make food appear from thin air like before? Figuring with how oddly Bill had been acting since their last argument Mabel figured it would be best to ask just one question for now. 

“Bill?”

“Yeah…” Bill just glanced over at Mabel before returning to his own thoughts.

“Why do you even need a kitchen?” She just stood next to the empty pantry not knowing what to do.

“What?” Bill looked over at her with slightly dazed eyes.

“You can just make food appear from thin air, so why do you need a kitchen?” Mabel figured that maybe he needed a bit of clarification.

“Oh, yeah…” Bill cocked his head to the side before looking at the ground and answering slowly, “I can make simple ingredients and foods appear but nothing that is actually a combination of foods.”

“What?” Mabel continued, “You’re supposed to be all-powerful… why can’t you make meals?” From what Mabel knew about Bill he was not the type to share personal information (even if it really isn't that important of information) and that his sudden change in mood to this mopey, quiet, and almost human man was starting to worry her. No worry wasn't the word it was almost freaky to see him like that.

Sighing Bill tapped his fingers on the table as he answered, “Simple. In my triangle form I had no need to eat since I was a being of pure light, and I figured I’d never have to learn how.” Bill looked at Mabel as she stood there awkwardly, before turning away and mumbling into his hand “Mk... mph smth... fud.”

“What?” Mabel leaned forward as she tried to hear him better.

Lifting his head Bill replied, “I said make me some food.”

“There aren’t any ingredients.” Mabel said as she glanced over the bare cupboards that lined the walls. 

Waving his hand, Bill just replied, “There. They’re full. Just tell me if you need anything else.”

After Bill waved his hand Mabel went up to the fridge and opened it, only to find it now stocked with different varieties of food, along with all of the cupboards and the pantry. 

“Okay why don’t you make the food then?” Mabel was starting to gain a bit more confidence around this new lackluster Bill.

“I don’t want to.” He replied curtly to her question.

_ “Wow. Thanks jerk, because I realllly want to be your slave and make some flippin’ food for you.”  _ Mabel thought to herself as she stood there waiting for him to offer some help.

“You know Star, it’s not nice to think that. I’m not calling you my slave.” Bill didn’t even turn towards her as he spoke. 

Shocked, all Mabel could do was stutter, “Y-You were reading m-my mind…” 

“Yep.”

“How long?” Had he been listening to all of her thoughts?

“Just on and off, that's why I laughed earlier. At the time I thought it was funny...ya know… the idea of popping your head off.” She was so stunned by his seemingly honest (although disturbing answer) Mabel could only nod as Bill asked, “Could you make some food now? My human body needs some food every now and then.” After that Bill just turned and faced the wall again and just stared at it.

“O-Okay” was all Mabel could stammer as she began to grab various ingredients. 

  
_ “This new Bill seems strange. I almost prefer the normal one.” _ Sighing, Mabel grabbed a knife and began cooking as she became lost in her own thoughts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to try and release another chapter really soon since it is pretty much just a continuation of this one. So expect this one much sooner because I'm going to work really hard to get it out. 
> 
> And I get that some of you may say that Bill seemed kind of OOC but, just remember that he is kind of distracted by his own thoughts right now, and also I'm trying to get them to see new sides of each other, Bill seeing a very angry and emotional Mabel, and Mabel seeing a very absentminded and slightly distressed Bill.
> 
> I'm still SO SORRY this took so long to post. And also, do you think I should go back and edit the first and second chapters? I wouldn't make any major changes, but I feel like they do need to be improved to showcase a slightly better writing style than how they look now.
> 
> And thank you again to everyone who has followed and supported me so far, it really helps me to want to keep writing knowing I have you all looking forward to it. 
> 
> Love you all  
> ~EmeraldQueen


	6. Making Meals and New Deals

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, I'm not dead. I am really sorry this took so long, I had really bad writer's block and school has hit me like a bus that then got ran over by a plane only to be hit by an asteroid. 
> 
> I am honestly sorry this took so long to post, but thank you to the people who have waited patiently for this update.

** Mabel POV **

 

_ Tap-tap… tap-tap… tap-tap.... _

 

Bill had been sitting there tapping his fingers non-stop for what felt like an hour... a long, boring, painfully awkward hour. “ _ Seriously though” _ , she thought to herself  _ “How could it NOT be awkward” _ ? Mabel was standing in a kitchen making food for a psychotic demon that was currently staring off into space thinking about who-knows what. Oh, and of course it didn’t help that she was currently being held against her will. 

 

Part of Mabel saw Bill’s current  absent-mindedness as a chance for her to escape, although she doubted she would be able to leave without his permission.  

 

“You’re right Shooting Star…” When Mabel looked up from her cooking she saw that he had finally stopped staring at the wall, but was now looking at her with blank eyes. 

 

“I-I didn’t say anything… Wait did you read my mind again?!” Although Mabel sounded shocked, she wasn’t very surprised since Bill was the self-proclaimed  _ Master of the Mind _ .  _ “I guess I never did ask him to not read my mind…”  _

 

“You’re going to have to do more than just ask politely Star.”

 

“ **Mabel** . My name is  **Mabel.** We’ve discussed this before and my name is Mabel.” 

 

“Actually we yelled at each other.”

 

“I could poison your food you know.”

 

“And I could condemn you to an eternity of psychological horrors as I slowly drove you towards total insanity.” 

 

“No thanks.” Mabel retorted as she continued to cook, “You already gave me enough of  _ that _ .”

 

If she didn’t know any better Mabel would have sworn when looking out of the corner of her eye that Bill had cringed at that last part. Instead she just shrugged it off as wishful thinking, even in his seemingly vulnerable state the evil demon would never cringe at the idea of torture, smile maybe but cringe? That was impossible. Then again, she had just been holding a seemingly normal conversation with him just then and was too confused by that thought alone to really even care about other seemingly useless details. 

 

A few moments later Mabel was finally done cooking and began to plate the meal.  _ “Why me?”  _ She glanced up at the demon who was once again staring at that god-forsaken wall,  _ “I guess it helps that he isn’t a triangle any more. I don’t think i’d be able to even stand up if I had to see that form ever again.” _

 

Letting out a slight huff Mabel walked over to where the dream demon was currently sitting and placed the plate of food in front of him. Instead of responding or even looking over at her Bill just looked at the plate before looking back to the wall. Infuriated Mabel stood there tapping her toe to the beat of his own finger-tapping as she waited for him to respond. 

 

_ “I did NOT just spend over twenty fucking minutes making a meal for a demon and his crybaby buttocks that are currently holding me captive, and not even get a thanks in return”  _ If looks could kill then the glare that Mabel was giving Bill would have delivered the deathblow within two seconds. 

 

As if sensing the anger currently rolling off of Mabel in tidal waves, Bill turned back towards her and the food questioning, “What do you need?”

 

Mabel huffed indignantly “Really? I just made you this food that you oh so wanted me to make since your sorry ass can’t seem to make a simple meal out of more than two ingredients!” seething she continued as Bill started to open his mouth, “Oh, what do I want?! All I’d like is a little thank you, especially since I still don’t know why I am even here or why you keep on acting like you’re having some HUGE existential crisis!” 

 

“Did you take the pills Pine Tree gave me?” Bill asked as some unidentifiable form of life sparked in his eye.

 

“Wh-what?! Of course I did.” Taken aback by his sudden question Mabel quizzically replied, “Why would that even matter to you?” 

 

Finally some life began to return to Bill’s eyes, although that also worried Mabel at the same time. “ Well part of my deal with Pine Tree was that I cannot cause any physical or psychological damage to you, and after invading a few minds I managed to find out that most people with PTSD have emotional swings at times and I figured…”

 

Mabel cut him off by raising a hand to stop him before Bill could say anymore, “Listen that is  _ great _ and all, but you have no right to ask that stuff from me. Especially since you probably don’t even know why I have it ‘cause you're so dense.” Mabel stated as she looked down at her own food with a rumbling stomach. 

 

Sighing, Mabel plopped down into the seat across from Bill before beginning to stuff her face with the food she had made earlier. 

 

** Bill’s POV **

 

Bill watched the young woman as she began to eat, all while hundreds of thoughts continued to swirl through his head. 

 

_ “Oh, but you do know why she has it don’t you?”  _

 

_ “Just kill her! Find some other way to build the portal” _

 

_ “No. It won’t work.” _

 

_ “What is this food?” _

 

_ “How long am I going to have to deal with all this yelling?” _

 

_ “Am I really to blame?” _

 

_ “Why do I feel sick everytime I think of how terrified she looked earlier?” _

 

_ “Maybe… maybe I should just let her go?” _ Nope. That was it. That last thought had done him in. Bill snapped back to reality and out of his thoughts as he stood up and shouted, “NO!”

 

To say Shooting Star looked scared was an understatement. As he stood with his fist slammed against the table-top Mabel sat across from him trying to choke down a mouthful of food without crying out in terror. 

 

_ “Good”  _ was all Bill could think as the initial white hot anger of even considering releasing her began to recede. It was good to know that he was still terrifying. It was a relief to see that he could still scare people to death, and that his past moment of weakness was nothing more than a simple slip up. He wasn’t becoming more human. He was not dealing with emotions that could only come with having your own human body, and Bill was certainly not feeling any regret for anything at all. 

 

At least that’s what he told himself.

 

**Narrator POV**

 

Now, Bill sat back down and watched as Mabel wearily returned to eating, since she only had a bit of food earlier and was currently almost starving. The fact that there was a psychotic mass murder watching her couldn’t stop her from enjoying the Cobb Salad she had made. 

 

Mabel watched carefully as Bill picked up a fork and began to twirl it between his fingers, amazed at how elegantly he seemed to be able to do some things after only having his own human body for… how long had it been? Was it still only day two? Mabel had no idea, and that was a troubling thought. How was she supposed to know if time worked differently in the Mindscape or if it was the same, and even then Mabel had no clue how long she was asleep that last time. That got her thinking though…

 

_ “Why didn’t he hit me back there?”  _ It wasn’t that Mabel wanted Bill to hit her, it was just strange for her to think that someone who thought taking over the world was just some harmless fun would refuse to hit someone that had been nothing but a nuisance to them.   __

 

_ “Was it part of his deal? I mean he did say that he wouldn’t cause me any physical or psychological damage, but why?” _ If she was being honest with herself Mabel would just state the obvious, she had no idea what Dipper and Bill’s deal even was.  She was too tired and mentally broken to even remember much about what happened when they poofed back into the Mystery Shack, instead it was all just a blur. She knew they had made some type of deal and had shook on it, but the words were not there. Instead all she could remember was a tired looking Dipper starring Bill in the eye as he looked back with a sadistic smile and shook Dipper’s hand.  _ “What was the deal? Maybe I could find a way out if I knew it.” _

 

“Pfft!” Mabel looked up from her half-finished salad to stare at Bill as he let out a quick laugh.

 

“Seriously Shooting Star? I didn’t make it so you could just  _ walk on out of here _ .” Bill leaned back and folded his arms before continuing, “Ya wanna’ know what the deal was kid? Well, this is it. Pine Tree is going to build a fully functioning inter-dimensional portal for me, and in return while you are under my  _ watch _ you will not come to any harm physically or psychologically by my hand.” 

 

At first Mabel was almost elated to hear the deal. Afterall, Bill couldn’t hurt her and she was sure that they could defeat Bill again if they actually managed to rebuild the portal.  _ “I get to leave here soon! They can rebuild the portal and then Bill will have to let me go!”  _ Bill of course just sat there reading her mind and smirked thinking to himself,  _ “I love crushing people’s hope…”  _

 

“Sorry not sorry, but I never said you could leave after Pine Tree builds me my portal.”

 

“Wait. What?!” Mabel looked at Bill with surprise, “What do you mean? You have to, it’s part of the deal!”

 

“No it isn’t. I said that you would come to no harm by my own doing. Of course Pine Tree was too terrified and desperate to realize that I had never said I would actually release you, he just assumed I would.” Looking at Mabel as she began to tear-up he added, “Don’t worry Shooting Star, I’ll get rid of you when I get bored. I may even decide to banish you to one of the less horrific dimensions if you’re good enough.” Bill’s golden eye drank up the sorrow blanketing Mabel’s face with pure sadistic glee. 

 

_ “There has to be some way out of this, I can’t be stuck here or banished. Right?”  _ Mabel wracked her brain for an idea as hot tears began to pour down her cheeks, but nothing came to mind.

 

Bill, no matter what form he took or what dimension he was in was a demon of habit, and he saw Mabel’s moment of weakness as an opportunity for one of his favorite things, a deal.

 

“Ya know Shooting Star, my current deal with your brother may leave you in quite the pickle later…”

 

“What do you want?” Mabel barked back at him before he could continue.

 

“Oh, a deal of course.” She looked him in the eyes, Bill continued to set trap. 

 

“You do whatever I say, and once Pine Tree delivers and brings me my working portal I’ll release you to your family.” Her eyes widened, all he needed now was for Mabel to take the bait and then he would have both Pines under his thumb.

 

“No.” 

 

“Excuse me Shooting Star? I think I’m giving you a pretty nice deal here.” This was exciting to Bill, nothing made him feel more alive than when he got to hash-out a good deal with someone.

 

“I said no. I don’t want to do whatever you say, let me live here in comfort, call me by my real name, AND once my family builds you your portal you will send me back to them in perfect condition.” Mabel knew how to make a deal herself after learning from Stan; step one: give them an offer that you know is too much, from there slowly work down until you reach your actual goal. 

 

“Wow, someone is getting a bit cocky there Star. How about this; you can have your own room, but you must be willing to at least  _ help _ …” using that word almost physically hurt Bill. The mere idea of Mabel acting like some form roommate or something was almost too much for him to handle. 

 

“Fine, I’ll help you with cooking and some cleaning, BUT I want you to at least promise not to read my mind, and you have to release me once my family builds your portal.” Hopefully this would be enough, because at this point Mabel did not want to just sit at this tiny table and negotiate a deal with a demon for another hour. 

 

“Okay then. Here’s the deal… I will allow you some freedom and your own room in the dreamscape and as a bonus I will not read your mind unless I have permission. In return you will do work for me in the dreamscape and will not try to escape or cause any problems. If you do this then I will release you to your family after they complete their deal.” Hopefully this would be enough to satisfy the young woman in front of Bill. 

 

Hand outstretched and engulfed in blue flames, Bill decided to close the deal with one word and a grin, “Deal?” 

 

Mabel looked at his hand for a moment before sighing and reaching out to shake his hand, while making sure to stare into his golden eye as she shook his hand and sealed the deal. 

 

Grinning, Bill looked at her before cheerfully replying, “Pleasure doing business with you Shooting Star.”

 

_ “ARGG HOW COULD I FORGET ABOUT THE NAAAME?!!!” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a hard chapter to write, now i'm at the time when I need to start adding in bits of romance without suddenly having them suck each other's faces off and it is not easy. I do want to try and get back on track for writing and will try to make time to do so. 
> 
> Once again, I AM SOO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG TO POST! I FEEL LIKE I'VE ABANDONED MY BABY!
> 
> But thank you to those who have still encouraged me and asked for more, I finally managed to do this and am now ready to pump out more and will soon post revised versions of chapter one and two, probably with my next update.


	7. Run in with Bill

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I'm back from the dead and currently trying to hide from my incoming finals. This chapter had me stuck for a while, but here it is. And also to make up for the long wait I finally managed to rewrite MY CHAPTER ONE!!! That's right I finally did it and my next up-date should come with a new chapter Two. There aren't any major plot changes, I just worked on enhancing what I had. Enough chit-chat, Time to read and thanks to everyone.

* * *

 

Mabel POV

 

Almost a week had passed since Bill and Mabel had made their deal. Mabel’s week for the most part consisted of her staying in her room and staring at the ceiling or playing with her grappling hook until she would get up to get food. Even then she wouldn’t wander around, instead electing to take the fastest possible route to the food and back in order to avoid Bill.

 

What did Bill’s week consist of? Probably going off to murder some helpless animal or perform some other creepy demonic ritual. How was she supposed to know? Besides, at this point she really didn’t even care.

 

For the most part she would manage to get away without running into him, but twice that week he had come to her room demanding she make him some food. Mabel would get up, sigh and begin to make a meal big enough for the two of them. She refused to premake the meals for him since she was pretty sure that he not only didn’t know how to use an oven or microwave, but he would probably somehow manage to blow up the mindscape if he tried.

 

Whatever had seemed to be bothering Bill earlier apparently didn’t matter anymore, since Bill seemed to be back to his normal, bossy, annoying, and rude self. In fact as she got up to go grab some lunch she couldn’t help but relish in the fact that she had not seen or heard from him in two days. Two whole days of pure silence, and boredom. Grinning at the thought of more peace she began sprinting quietly down the hall to the kitchen, her thoughts quickly changed when Mabel rounded the corner and slammed into the bright yellow _man_ she had just been thinking about.

 

Bill POV

 

Bill had just come back from going to check on Pine Tree for the first time since their deal. He watched the Pines and Co. working for about half an hour until he heard Sixer turn and whisper to Stanley “I hope Mabel is alright, this is going to take us over a month to finish, even if we were to work around the clock with only four hours of sleep a night.”

 

Stanley looked at his twin with an incredulous look, earning a clarification from Sixer, “I did the calculations, and even with our extensive knowledge and the strong youth of everyone else involved we can’t just do this overnight.”

 

“Don’t worry.” Stanley placed his hand on Ford’s shoulder before continuing, “Mabel is a smart and strong girl, if anyone can handle themselves against him it is her.”

 

“B-but…”

 

“No buts bro. She helped stop the apocalypse, I’m pretty sure she can handle herself. Now, let’s hurry up. I need more than four hours of sleep a night.” Giving one last reassuring grin the older Pines twins’ conversation ended and they went back to work.

 

 _“Ew, that was so sweet I think I want to throw up. Humans are so weird with their little touchy thingy they do. Just threaten them and tell them to do, don’t bother with the whole ‘Oh I’ll help you in anyway I can’.”_ Bill was tired of watching this boring scene play out, especially now that he knew he would have to deal with waiting for at least another month.

 

As Bill poofed himself back into the Dreamscape he instantly sensed Mabel’s presence nearby. The problem was that because he wasn’t allowed to read her mind, she also couldn’t accurately sense her soul as that was one of the main proponents of an individual’s mindscape. Simply put, he knew she was there, but he didn’t know exactly where.

 

“I can’t believe I actually agreed to not read her mind.” Shrugging he mumbled to himself, “Well I have to admit, Shooting Star is much better at making deals than her brother.”

Bill would refuse to admit it out loud, but he was more than impressed with what she had managed to do in just under a week. Not only had Mabel managed to make a solid deal, but she also argued with him twice -- although part of him couldn’t help but think that was just stupidly suicidal for her -- most impressively and humiliatingly of all she got him to show some _weakness_.

 

 _“I still don’t get_ **_it_ ** _. Why do I feel a twinge of pain in my stomach when I think of her pills and tears, why did I want to try and say something… I’m not sure what, but I wanted to say_ **_something_ ** _.”_ So wrapped up in his own thoughts again, Bill did not hear the patter of feet as Mabel came barreling around the corner, slamming into his chest.

 

“UWAH” The pink sweatered blur that was Mabel shouted as she bounced off of Bill’s chest and started to fall over.

 

Without thinking, Bill stretched out a gloved hand to catch the falling girl. He probably would have been able to catch her, but Bill was still unsteady on his own human legs so instead he proceeded to fall on-top of Mabel while holding her hand.

Narrator POV

 

To say they were in a compromising position was an understatement. Bill was practically on top of Mabel, their noses almost touching, hands still interlocked. Both of them looked at each other in surprise for a moment, minds racing.

 

 _“She isn’t looking at me like she hates or fears me...”_ Bill couldn’t help but observe that small yet somehow impressive detail.

 

 _“Oh crap! Why me?!  Why is he looking at me?”_ Even in a panicked state Mabel couldn’t help but notice a similar detail _“Wait, his eyes, no EYE looks like it’s gold…”_ Although shocked Mabel couldn’t help but stare into his eye curiously.

 

Almost simultaneously they thought _“I kind of… like it.”_ Both sets of eyes widened as they quickly realized what they had just thought, resulting in both Bill and Mabel quickly dropping the other’s hand and rolling to opposite ends of the hallway.

 

“What the hell Shooting Star?!” shouting, Bill pointed at Mabel, “Why did you hit me?!”

 

Scoffing, she retorted “Huh? How was **I** supposed to know where **you** are?!”

 

“I don’t know but **you** shouldn’t have been running! Where were you even going?!”

 

Rolling her eyes, Mabel snarked back “OH! I’m sorry, I didn’t know I had to tell you where I was going.” Gesturing wildly while pressed against the wall she continued “It’s not like I can even go anywhere besides this boring place.” In Mabel’s eyes it was pretty true, she had been stuck in this large yet boring house that was Bill’s Dreamscape for only a week, but she had already managed to explore almost every inch of the place while trying to avoid running into Bill.

 

Bill’s eye widened for a split second, before looking to the ground and giving out a low and exasperated sigh, “Listen Shooting Star…”

 

“Mabel. My name is Mabel.”

 

“Does it look like I care?” Bill was done arguing at this point, in fact both of them were sick of the arguing almost every time they were next to each other for more than two minutes. “I can’t let you return to your dimension until I get what I bargained for, but if it makes you shutup… I-I’ll bring you something to entertain yourself with.” It almost hurt for the dream demon to do something so _nice_ . Even then he couldn’t help but try to convince himself otherwise, thinking _“If i’m going to have to be stuck with her for over a month, and have to make sure she is in a good condition thanks to those deals then I might as well keep her hap-silent… keep her silent.”_

 

Disbelief replaced the anger on Mabel’s face as she stared at Bill open-mouthed.

 

“Ah-I uhhhhhh…” was all she could stammer out as her mind was busy tumbling in circles _“What?! I guess I would like something to do… No I want to leave! But, I can’t leave, not until Dipper finishes. Does this count as kindness? Who is this Bill? Why isn’t he yelling? WHY WAS HIS EYE SO PRETTY?!?”_

 

Bill just stared at her as he waited for an answer from the stammering girl. After nearly thirty seconds of her sitting across from him saying nothing but “umms” and “uhhhs” Bill stood up, fixed his bright yellow suit and muttered, “You still like knitting right?”

 

Mabel just sat on the ground dumbfounded and nodded.

 

“Whew, Okay then Star.” As he snapped his fingers a large basket full of brightly colored yarns and a pair of needles appeared next to the shellshocked girl. “That ought to keep you entertained for a while… don’t expect much else from me, this is a once in a millennia thing.”

 

Mabel still sat there staring, her eyes shifting from the basket next to her to the demon standing across from her.

 

Tired of waiting, Bill rolled his eyes “Okay okay, stand up and head back to your room before I change my mind and take it away.” He watched carefully as Mabel unsteadily stood up and picked up the basket next to her. She looked around for a couple of seconds until Bill gave a long and exasperated sigh. Walking up to her he proceeded to grab her shoulders and turn her to face the hallway she had come from before beginning to shove her along by prodding her back forcefully enough for her to move, but not hard enough to hurt her.

 

“If you're just going to act like this I’m going to have to make sure you get back to your room. You humans are so useless at times.” Bill proceeded to walk alongside Mabel, who was still trying to process what was going on.

 

“Th-thanks…” Mabel looked down at the bright balls of yarn in her basket.

 

Bill stole a glance down at her before responding, “I don’t think calling humans useless is a compliment. Did you hit your head or something? Because I’m not supposed to cause any harm to you and Pine Tree may try to blame me.”

 

“No…” Mabel only whispered as she attempted to ignore just how stupidly oblivious Bill could be, “I mean thanks for the yarns.”

 

After hearing what she said, Bill tore his eye off of her and just let out a low “Oh” before both fell silent.

 

Mabel POV

 

As everything began to sink in, Mabel noticed BIll’s hand was still on her back, although at times it felt like he was barely touching her. Mabel silently prayed that this wasn’t some kind of threat that she just wasn’t getting as they walked in awkward silence to her room he had given her.

 

Once they reached her room Mabel felt Bill take his hand off her upper back and watched him wave his hand to open her door. Next she was ushered in by Bill as she heard him breathily mutter before slamming the door behind him “Have fun… knitting.”

 

Mabel looked down at her basket of yarn and did something she never thought she would do while in the same area as the demon, she smiled, a true yet small smile.

 

Whispering she thought out loud, “Maybe he isn’t so bad afterall.”

 

Looking around her bland room Mabel’s smile faded as she remembered _“I’m still trapped here though, and a basket of yarn can’t excuse him for all he did.”_

 

Bill POV

 

After he slammed the door behind himself Bill stood there for a minute before shaking his head and muttering “What is happening to me?” Quickly he wandered back to the main room and sat on the couch as he mused over the events that had just transpired.

  
He stared at the empty fireplace before asking no one in particular “What is going on?”

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally managed to fit in the smallest inkling of some type of romance, if you can call it that. Its more of a 'what is going on here why are you acting so weird' vibe. I'll try and write when winter break starts, but for now I have to deal with the terrifying beast known as finals. Thanks to everyone who still is encouraging me. If my slow updating is just half as frustrating to you as it is to me then I am so sorry. Anyways seriously, thanks for reading. Happy holidays!


	8. Memories, Tears, and Fears

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back from the dead everyone, it's short and mainly a slightly fluffy filler but it's better than nothing. So enjoy!

 

Mabel POV

 

Mabel sat down on her bed and stared at the basket of bright yarns in her lap for a few moments before letting another small smile slip from her lips. 

 

“Thank you…” whispering under her breath, she began to pull out and inspect the colors. 

 

A soft green, it reminded her of the grass she used to roll in near the Mystery Shack.

 

Crimson Red, she cringed and set it aside, she remembered that soon she’d have to ask Bill to get her another prescription somehow.

 

Hot Pink, like the lipstick she wore the day of the dance party she met Pacifica at.

 

Turquoise, her first kiss… Mermando had a tail about this color if she remembered correctly. 

 

Rainbow, apparently when you punch a jerk unicorn so hard it bleeds you find out that unicorn blood is rainbow, who knew?

 

Dark Blue, Dipper’s vest was this color. She remembered having to stitch it up a few times after some of their more dangerous or exciting adventures. 

 

This went on for a few minutes, every color brought back memories of her past in Gravity Falls with her brother, until Mabel got to the last color. She saw it at the bottom as she picked her way through the colors, but avoided picking it up until it was the only color still remaining in the basket.

 

Yellow, it was bright and harsh, but somehow oddly comforting. Her thoughts flashed between an evil triangle and an odd yet interesting man. They were the same but different, and that bothered Mabel. Steeling her mind she surveyed the colors before setting the yellow down on the bed with a few colors and dropping the rest back into the basket. Picking up a pair of needles Mabel began to knit, quietly letting her mind wander off. 

Dipper POV

It had been almost 2 weeks since Bill had taken Mabel away and forced Dipper to make his twisted deal. In those two weeks Dipper had barely ate or slept, often having to be dragged away from the portal in a weak and tired mess. 

 

“Mabel…” Dipper stared at the pancakes Pacifica had made everyone for breakfast, she wasn’t great with anything mechanical and instead helped Melody run the Shack and prepare for the baby that was just a month away while everyone else worked mainly on the portal. 

 

Sighing, Pacifica leaned into Dipper and muttered, “We all miss her. I promise we’ll get her back.”

 

With tired eyes Dipper turned to her and grinned halfheartedly before replying “ I miss her.” He stared back at his food, “I want her to be safe.”

 

Shaking her head, Pacifica leaned over a bit more and hugged the limp Dipper close, whispering comfortingly, “I know you do, and I’ll make sure that if a hair on her head is missing I’ll personally kill Bill for you.” She felt him chuckle slightly from under her and breathed a sigh of relief before running her fingers through his hair.

 

“I feel so useless.”

 

Dipper looked up questioningly, “Why?”

 

Shaking her head Pacifica responded quietly, “It's just… everyone else is doing something big and important, but I can’t do anything at all.” Seeing Dipper’s confused stare she sighed and continued on, “I don’t have the experience of building the portal like Stan and Ford. You, Wendy, Soos, and even Robbie have experience with actual hands on work and are strong enough to help build it. Melody is almost eight months pregnant so she has an actual excuse.  Even Robbie’s girlfriend Tambry is able to help out more, all because she is so friggin great with computers!” During her rant Pacifica had made her way to the table and sat down, just to slam her head into the table. 

 

Dipper, shocked by the outburst lightly put his hand on hers before cautiously saying “You’ve never been useless, you’re helping right now…”

 

As she looked up Pacifica sobbed “I-I’ve always been useless. Even wh-when we were k-kids. I couldn’t help with the lumberj-jack when he attacked and almost killed us, I was use-useless with Bill **AND NOW I CAN’T EVEN HELP SAVE THE FIRST PERSON TO EVER TRULY CARE ABOUT ME!** ” By the end Pacifica was practically wailing as she held Dipper, who for a few minutes could only sit there holding her and stroking her hair. 

 

After she managed to calm down he responded to her outburst by cupping her face in his hands before answering “You were never useless, you fought against your parents and helped to break the curse on your family, and you were willing to help us fight Bill which was more than most people were willing to do.” Sadly smiling he added, “Even now, you have been everyone’s rock, making sure we eat and sleep, always offering to be my shoulder to cry on after the initial days of Mabel’s kidnapping. I should have checked to see if you were okay, I was so busy dealing with self-pity I forgot that she is your closest friend. I’m so sorry, you aren’t useless.” 

 

Pacifica shook her head with silent tears still falling, “Don’t you dare apologise, I am the one who should be apologising. She’s your sister.”

 

“Shhh…” Dipper grabbed Pacifica and held her tightly “We are both to blame, and…”

 

He paused for a moment to look down at the crying blonde now staring at him before continuing, “...and I promise we won’t give up until she is safe.” Without thinking Dipper bent over and kissed the sniffling girl on the forehead, laughing through tears as she began to turn beet red. “Besides, you have been so much help to all of us so far we’d be lost without you.”

 

Blushing furiously Pacifica began to respond, only to be interrupted by Stan shouting from the basement “DIPPER!! GET DOWN HERE! WE NEED MUSCLE!” 

 

“I-I guess that's my cue.” Dipper awkwardly rubbed the back of his head as he began to finally realize what he had done. 

 

Pacifica wiped away the last of her tears and smirked at the boy now turning the same shade of red as she was, “Hurry up dufous, you have some work to do.” 

 

Grinning, Dipper rushed down the stairs, eager to get back to work  to help bring home his sister, for himself and everyone else. 

 

Bill’s POV

 

Bill had sat in the same spot while staring at the fireplace for who knew how long, just thinking. He had been doing it too much as of recent, and was almost  _ worried. _ Worst of all, almost every thought was on the same subject…  _ Mab-Shooting Star. _

 

_ “Why would I give her knitting supplies?”  _

 

_ “The deal was to keep her alive, that's it. Not happy, not content, not even necessarily comfortable.”  _

 

_ “Why, why,  _ **_WHY!_ ** _ ”  _

 

Lifting his face from his hands Bill muttered “What is going on?”

 

After coming to the conclusion that sitting on the couch and thinking wasn’t going to help, Bill was left with one option, an option that made him cringe.  _ “ I guess I’ll just have to ask her myself.”  _

 

Shooting up off the couch he stumbled a bit until he managed to regain his footing. Summoning his cane, Bill stood up straight and made his way to Mabel’s room, determined to get some answers. 

 

_ “What will I say? Do I just barge in or knock?”  _

 

He turned the corner to the hallway leading to her door as he attempted to smooth back his slightly frazzled-up hair. 

 

_ “I’ll pretend that I’m coming to check and see if the yarn was good enough. But, not in a suspicious way, in a ‘I am the host and It’s my job to make sure everything is up to standard’ form of way. ” _

 

He stood outside her door and readjusted his bright yellow suit, and deep black bow tie before letting out a low huff. 

 

_ “You just need some information from a stupid human, that's all.”  _

 

Putting on a mischevious grin Bill reached towards the dreaded door that read in pink sparkles,  **_MABEL_ ** . 

 

_ Knock… Knock… Knock... _

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, sorry it took so long for me to post this, with finals, track, the holidays,state and district debate, and the death of my dog just the other day I've been a hot mess this past month. I decided to make it up to you by giving you a tid-bit of romance, not necessarily between our favorites Bill and Mabel, but with Dipper and Pacifica (Sorry, I'm a sucker for that ship). You can expect some actual relationship progress in for MaBill in the next chapter, which hopefully can be done before another month passes. Also, I want to thank those who have commented some really great things, looking at those reminds me why I decided to do this and also helps to remind me that there are people who actually enjoy reading this. Oh, and lets just appreciate Bill acting like some nervous teenage boy about to talk to a girl for the first time, inner pep-talk and all. So sorry for the long wait, and I promise my New Years resolution includes getting this Fanfic done, and not waiting to post once a month. Thanks for your support! It means the world.


	9. A Promise it is

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. I got 100 Kudos! Thanks to everyone who has liked this, to me this is better than I ever expected, I was hoping for like 25 when I started this and was honestly happy when I reached 10.
> 
> So anyways, turns out when you are sick you have enough time to sit yourself down and write almost an entire chapter in one sitting, so here it is, a cold medicine and flu induced chapter for you all.

* * *

 

**Mabel POV**

 

For only being at it for about an hour, Mabel had managed to get a good start on the sweater she planned to make. It was relaxing and made her feel more at home than she had felt in a long time. Something about the little _click-clack_ the two needles made helped to calm her nerves, allowing her to sink into a calm lul.

 

As she knit, Mabel’s mind wandered off, she thought of all the sweater designs she wanted to sell one day, the sweaters she used to make when she was younger. It was strange, to think that something that used to be so commonplace to her, was suddenly like a gift from the heavens. After she and Dipper had returned home from Gravity Falls seven years ago, she had turned to knitting to calm and distract herself, now she once again was using it as a way to escape reality.

 

Sometimes though, reality won’t let you escape for very long.

 

Knock…

 

_“What was that?”_

 

Knock…

 

_“Nooooooo. Please go away.”_

 

Knock…

 

“I’m coming!” Mabel sighed as she stood up from her bed and pranced over to her door. _“No one is going to ruin MY good mood.”_

 

She opened the door, only to greet an uncharacteristically nervous Bill.

 

_“What’s up with him?”_ She wondered before quickly shaking the question out of her head and asking dryly, “What do you want?”

 

She watched him straighten up suddenly and put on his annoyingly confident grin before he responded shakily, “Aw, c-come on Shhh...ooting Star aren’t you at l-least going to let me in?”

 

She watched the corner of his mouth twitch downwards slightly before letting out a low huff and stepping aside. “Fineee…”

 

Leaving the door open she made her way back to the bed and her knitting supplies before sitting down and returning to work, ignoring the man standing in the center of her room.

 

“Soooo…” Mabel looked up from her work as Bill attempted to get her attention. “Are the supplies up to standard?” Bill asked in an awkward tone.

 

“Uhhhh. Sure. Yeah, they’re good.” Mabel responded with equal awkwardness to the strange question.

 

“Oh. Just good.” She watched Bill out of the corner of her eye, he rubbed the back of his head before standing up straight and declaring, “If it is not up to standard then I’ll have to do better next time.” Mabel noticed him glance towards her before he quickly choked out, “A-As host of course. It’s my duty to make sure only the finest of items are found in my dreamscape.” He turned his back to her and raised his hand, eyes widening she realized she had messed up.

 

“Oh, no!” Mabel shouted quickly before he could snap his fingers and probably summon a mountain of multi-colored yarns for her to drown in. “These are great! Top notch. There won’t be a next time, because these are great!”

 

She watched Bill lower his hand and nod, “Great to hear Shooting Star.”

 

Now tired of having to deal with Bill’s _weirdness_ , Mabel shook her head and asked calmly, “Is that all?”

 

Instead of leaving like she had hoped, Bill instead smacked his fist into his open palm shouting, “AHA! I completely forgot!” He turned towards her and flashed a grin before beginning to float on his back. “So tell me…”

 

Mabel could only groan and plant her face into her hands before lifting her head back up and cheerfully responding, “What do you need to know?”

 

“What are human feelings like?”  


“What?”

 

“Oh, you know. Things like anger, sorrow, uhhh… joy?”

 

Bewildered by Bill’s strange question she tentatively answered “I don’t know, I mean there is so many; anger is uhhh… red hot, umm… sorrow is when you just want to curl up in a ball and hide, joy is bright and uhhh… happy?”

 

“That doesn’t help.” Bill floated above her listening.

 

“Why do you want to know?”

 

Bill stopped for a second before answering, “Research?”

 

“Suure…” Mabel once again picked up her knitting supplies before continuing, “I can’t help you then.”

 

Bill flipped over to look down at her before asking, “What do you mean ‘can’t help?’ ”

 

“It’s simple.” She looked up at him and gave him her own grin, “I can’t explain human emotions, they are different for everyone.”

 

_“I don’t know why he needs to know, but he’s not going to find out from me as long as I’m trapped here.”_

 

“Wha-WHAT?!” Bill sputtered and fell to the ground, landing face-first on the floor at Mabel’s feet.

 

“Pfttt!” Mabel held back a snort and looked down at him, “You -HA- all right?” She tried to contain her laughter as the man sat up and rubbed his nose.

 

“I take it back, pain is not always fun.” He muttered under his breath and held his nose.

 

Standing up, Mabel held out her hand, “Need some help” she smiled and looked at him as he glanced questioningly at her outstretched hand. She watched Bill tentatively reach out a gloved hand before pulling it back. Mabel just rolled her eyes before snorting out, “Hey, this is a once in a lifetime chance for most guys, to have THE Mabel Pines help them up.” Almost reluctantly he reached out before grasping her hand.

 

Mabel pulled Bill up to stand. She had never really paid attention until now, but given the opportunity she realized that Bill was a good six inches taller than her.

 

“Guess its not a bad tall though…” she muttered quietly under her breath.

 

“What?” Apparently she hadn’t been quiet enough.

 

“AH, UH, NOT A BAD THOUGHT!” Mabel rushed to cover up what she had said while mentally screaming at herself.

 

“Oh. What’s not a bad thought?” Bill asked innocently as he looked down at her while letting go of his now red nose.

 

“Uhhhh… knitting. Yeah, it’s not a bad thought to knit more, heh…” Mabel then looked down to realize she was still holding Bill’s hand before turning beet red.

 

She yanked her hand out of Bill’s and flopped onto her bed, grabbed her knitting supplies and began to knit at a furious pace.

 

_“Please, please, please leaaaaave!”_ Mabel began desperately praying that both Bill and the weird feeling in her gut would just go away.

 

Instead Bill just plopped down next to her, looked over her shoulder and asked, “What are you making?”

 

_“WHY CAN’T HE_ **_LEAVE_ **!” Mabel mentally shouted as she silently hoped the blush had abated before turning towards him, “A sweater.”

 

“Oh. That’s boring.”

 

“Wha-Excuse you. Sweaters are amazing.” Offended, Mabel could only look him in the eye as she continued in her mini-rant, “They are versatile, and perfect for year round weather. They can be fancy or casual or anything.”

 

“Well, I’m just saying you’ll never find a sweater that is impressive to _me_.” Bill just grinned and pointed to himself.

 

Mabel’s eyes narrowed, “Is that a challenge?”

 

Bill’s eye glinted as he looked into Mabel’s eyes, “Oh, you think _you_ can make a sweater that _I’d_ actually want to wear?”

 

“Yes I do.” Mabel crossed her arms and watched him.

 

“It is impossible.”

 

“Impossible is my middle name”

 

“It won’t do you any good. There is a literal dimension of sweaters and knitting supplies, not even that had anything impressive to me.”

 

Mabel let out a little Hrmph, “Fine, If I make you a sweater good enough that you like it and wear it, you take me to this ‘ _sweater dimension’_ and let me see it for myself.”

 

She watched Bill widen his eye, then reach out his hand as it burst into blue flames, “Is that a deal?”

 

Mabel smirked and reached out her hand, pushing his outstretched hand down.

 

“Nope.”

 

Bill went slack-jawed and stared at her, before he could respond she added.

 

“It’s a promise.”

 

“A promise?”

 

“Yeah. You promise to take me to the sweater dimension to see for myself, if I can make you a sweater you like.”

 

“A promise?” Bill just sat there and repeated himself.

 

“Fine, we’ll make it a pinky promise. Then it’s still binding like a deal, but not.”

 

As Bill looked at her in confusion, Mabel grabbed his hand, lifted it up and interlocked her pinky with his own. “There we go.”

 

Hastily dropping his hand Mabel ushered Bill out of her room, cheerfully speaking, “It looks like I have a sweater to make, bye!”

 

With that she slammed the door behind him. Returning to her bed Mabel began to process what she had just done. “I just made a deal no, a **_promise_ ** with the devil.” She began to wonder if it wasn’t too late to just step back out and tell him to ignore all of that. After glancing around her quaint room, Mabel shrugged and sat back down. “I guess it would be nice to go somewhere besides this dreamscape.” With that thought, Mabel began to knit.

 

**Bill POV**

 

“What just happened?” Bill looked down at his hand before muttering, “a pinky promise? What is up with me?”

 

He walked back into the main room and sat down. Looking around he began to laugh, not a malicious one, but a real laugh. “AHAHAHA, heh, I can’t believe it HAH, a promise!” He held his hands to his face, shaking with this unfamiliar type of laughter, “She got me.”

 

He looked up at the ceiling before smirking in defeat, “A promise it is then.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, man. This one actually came out at a decent time. Hope it's good everyone. I'm excited to write the next chapter and hopefully up the actual bonding between these two. More importantly though...
> 
> I managed to get 100KUDOS, I know it may not seem like much, but it makes me happy to see so many people like this, and I'll do the best I can to make sure you keep liking it. ( •̀ᄇ• ́)ﻭ✧


	10. Sweater Struggles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M BAAAAACK!
> 
> This chapter is mainly fluff and filler, as my stressed and sleep deprived sick brain can only make fluffy fillers apparently.

**Bill POV**

 

Nearly three weeks had passed since Bill had first been freed from his stone prison. And almost a week ago Bill had done something he thought he’d never do in a millennium. He made a promise. He still wasn’t sure Mabel grabbing his hand and making him lock pinkies with her counted as anything actually binding, but it was still surprising. The fact that she was determined to go through with the thing surprised him even more. Bill thought back to almost a week ago, the first time he realized she was serious.

 

_ Flashback brought to you by Grunkle Ford discovering you can't fight a Gremloblin with water _

 

Not even an hour after making their promise, Mabel had came out into the main room with a pad of paper, a pencil, and a measuring tape. 

 

“Stand up.” Mabel stood in front of him with her hands on her hips.

 

Bill glanced in her direction before closing his eye and readjusting himself so his arms were under his head as he laid on the couch, “No.”

 

His lip twitched up as he heard Mabel let out a small “hrmph” then click her pen. “Fine then, I’ll start with the questions.”

 

“Nope.”

 

“Why not?” Bill could have sworn she had a sassy tone to her voice as she questioned him.

 

“You didn’t answer my question, so why should I answer yours.” He lazily smirked as he heard her huff in frustration.

 

“Really?”

 

“Yes, really.”

 

“I had a legit reason for not answering, and that was called I didn’t know the answer. You will know the answers to this and it is all important questions.” 

 

Bill couldn’t help but want to poof her into another dimension, but realized that would probably result in breaking a deal. He opened his eye and looked over in Mabel’s direction, “If I answer your questions will you leave?”

 

She rolled her eyes and retorted, “MABEL is my name. And yes I will, but after I also get your measurements.”

 

“Why do you need my measurements?” Bill was silently hoping that she wouldn’t say what he thought she was about to say.

 

“For the sweater, duh.” 

 

_ “Damn, she was serious.”  _  With that thought, Bill sat up and looked over towards the brunette. “Fine, as long as you leave me alone when you’re done.”

 

With that Bill gave a defeated sigh and stood up. Looking down at Mabel, he continued “Well… what are you waiting for?” 

 

With that Mabel set down the pad of paper and tucked the pen behind her ear. Pulling the measuring tape from her back pocket she proceeded to step forward and begin measuring Bill at the chest. 

 

“Question one. What is your favorite color?”

 

Bill snorted, “Really Shooting Star? I thought you were at least of average intelligence.”

 

She glared up at him, “Well I’m  _ sooory _ I wanted to make sure. Yellow then?” 

 

“Of course.” Bill let a smug grin grace his face as Mabel turned to write down some measurements.

  
  


“Question two. Do you only own tight clothes?”

 

“You’re joking right? What kind of question is that?” 

 

Instead of answering, Mabel just looked up at him with a look that seemed to say,  _ “If you don’t answer the question I will personally cause your re-death.”  _

 

Glancing upwards Bill decided the best course of action would be to just play along, “Fine, I can summon any outfit I want, but I wear suits like this because why not? I got this body with a suit and it looks pretty good by human standards if I say so myself.”

 

“So, tight clothes only.” Mabel snarked as she continued to measure his arms.

 

“Its called properly fitting clothes.”

 

“Tight.”

 

Bill threw a hand in the air in exasperation, “Ya know what Star, I don’t even care.” 

 

Unfazed by Bill’s childish flailing Mabel asked, “Can I get a step stool?”

 

“A what?” Bill asked.

 

Mabel waved her hand around, “Ya, know. A little stool to stand on so I can finish measuring you.”

 

Bill snapped his fingers, “Fine.”

 

As a small black stool appeared in front of her feet Mabel gave a slight smile before continuing with her interview. 

 

“Question three. Simple or complex?”

 

“I like complex spells, and simple hexes.” Bill replied in a lighthearted tone.

 

“I meant clothes or fashion. You are so specific at times I swear.” Mabel reached around his neck in order to grab the measuring tape from the other side.

 

Keenly aware of their now face to face proximity Bill answered as evenly and calmly as possible, while a playful smirk fell on his lips, “Maybe you are just too vague.” Mabel’s hazel eyes locked onto his own golden one as she just watched him.

 

Bill conceded, “Fine, simplicity is key I guess.” not wanting to get her too riled up. 

 

Mabel’s eyes softened a bit before she hopped off the stool and grabbed her notepad, scribbling down some final notes and measurements before she began to skip off down the hall leading to her room crying out, “Thanks” over her shoulder.

 

After she left Bill thought to himself,  _ “And people think I’m crazy, sheesh.” _

 

_ Back to reality brought to you by waddles caught in a ball of yarn _

 

In the following week, Bill would rarely see Mabel leave her room. Often during the “morning” Bill would catch a glimpse of her as she went to grab armfuls of food before she would retreat back into her room for the rest of the day. She came out to make him food twice, and even then he would catch her muttering on about “patterns... perfection... color…” and other seemingly random things that probably had to do with the sweater she was making. 

 

It was on the seventh day of their “promise”, and Bill was starting to doubt he’d ever actually hear from Mabel ever again.

 

_ “I guess that means I won’t have to deal with her for a while, all I have to do is wait for Pine Tree to finish the portal and I’ll be set. Although, it has been nice having someone around to talk to…”  _ Bill frowned and lightly shook his head.

 

“Maybe setting something on fire will help me.”  _ Fwoosh!  _ With that thought the table burst into bright blue flames. “Heh” Bill watched the wood begin to crumble and burn, the flame gave off no heat and instead left the air around it feeling cold. 

 

Even though producing a flame was not much for BIll, he could tell that the amounts of magic he had been using recently were starting to take a toll on his already low magic reserves. 

 

He absentmindedly mumbled “I’m going to have to cut down on that then...” 

 

**“AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!”**

 

“Wha?!”  _ Plopf _

 

Hearing the sudden scream, Bill flailed for a moment before falling off the chair and onto the ground. 

 

“What the hell was that?!” Bill shouted as the tips of his hair began to turn a reddish brown.

 

“BILL!!! WHY IS THE TABLE ON **FIRE**!?”

 

Hearing his name being called out, Bill whipped around to face Mabel. “I was BORED”

 

Tossing a package to the side Mabel threw her hands up in exasperation, “That's a horrible reason! You don’t light things on fire because you're bored!”

 

“It’s called fun.” Bill grumbled and turned around to face the fire again. 

 

“UGHHH” He heard Mabel groan and begin stomping behind him. “Fine then…” 

 

Bill heard her pick something up, followed by the sound of her sprinting forward.

 

_ Splash! _

 

“Aw! Come on Shooting Star, it wasn’t going to kill anyone.” Bill pouted and looked over at the girl who was now slumped across the back of the couch holding an empty water vase.

 

“I… _huff_ … really don’t… _huff_ … care.” 

 

Bill let out another whine, “Why are you even out here right now?”

 

Snapping her fingers Mabel shot up and ran out of Bill’s sight, “I almost forgot!”

 

**Narrator POV**

 

Mabel turned and went back to the doorway where she had thrown the package earlier. 

 

Looking at the crudely wrapped package she puffed out her cheeks in disappointment.  _ “If only he had some pretty wrapping paper, but all I could find was some loose writing paper.” _ Still, she was much more proud of the handiwork that the wrapping covered than she was with the impromptu wrapping paper itself. 

 

_ “This is one of my best ones yet.”  _ Puffing her chest in pride she carried the package over to the couch and plopped down next to Bill. 

 

Flashing a bright smile Mabel held out the package, “Here we go!” 

 

Bill just stared at the wrinkled, torn, and taped up  _ thing _ in confusion. “Uhhhhh… what is it?”

 

“It’s the sweater silly!” Mabel continued to beam with pride.

 

Bill reached out a hand to poke the package, “Why is it wrapped in random papers?”

 

Mabel just gave him an exasperated glare before answering, “It’s called  **someone** doesn’t have any wrapping paper. Now, take it.” She shoved the  _ present.  _ Into his hands before Bill could say no.

 

“Still, why would you wrap it up? Seems pointless, there’s nothing fun about it.” Bill just stared down at the package in his hands, unsure of what to do.

 

Mabel rolled her eyes, “It’s very fun. It’s fun to unwrap something and be surprised.”

 

Bill looked over towards her quizzically, “I already know it's a sweater, there is nothing surprising about that.” 

 

“UGHH” Mabel threw her hands in the air again, “Just open it will ya!”

 

“Fine.” With that Bill began to slowly tear off the paper piece by piece. He watched Mabel out of the corner of his eye as she just sat there holding her breath and hopping in her seat. 

 

_ “Welp. Let’s see what she’s so excited about…” _

 

It was almost physically painful for Mabel to not just take the package that Bill was so slowly unwrapping and just tear the rest of the paper to shreds for him. 

 

_ “Keep it cool girly.”  _ Mabel was trying but failing to hide her excitement.  _ “This is one of your best sweaters yet, and it only took you a  _ **_week_ ** _! He has to love it.” _ Mabel knew what it would mean if Bill actually liked it, she would get to finally leave the mindscape, even if it was only for a short while. 

 

_ “AAAAAHHHHHH! JUST UNWRAP IT ALREADY! _

 

As more paper came off, Bill began to see bits of the sweater inside. Yellow, yellow, yellow.  _ “How disappointing. I was hoping she’d at least try to be creative.”  _ He quickly side-eyed Mabel once again before sighing in what seemed to be disappointment, Bill ripped the rest of the paper off to get a proper look. 

 

Mabel held her breath and watched as Bill held up the sweater to get a better look.

 

Bill muttered under his breath, “Interesting…” as he surveyed the sweater as a whole. It was much more colorful than he had originally thought. Although the main color was still yellow; he could see specks of tans, yellowish-browns, and light-oranges mixed in creating a somewhat whimsical pattern. That pattern was used to create a slow gradient from blending swirls into a light brick pattern near the bottom. 

 

Mabel began inching closer to watch as Bill carefully observed the sweater. Unable to resist any longer, she began pointing to certain parts of the sweater and talking about them enthusiastically. “See here? I used a special technique… Oh, and here if you look there are about five colors… And I loved doing this to the sleeves…” Bill felt her begin to lean on his arm, the proud and cheery tone in her voice made him smile ever so slightly. 

 

“It looks nice.” 

 

Mabel stopped talking to slightly turn towards Bills face, giving him a beaming smile she chirped, “Thanks!”

 

Still not willing to let Mabel win this “promise” Bill continued, “But is that all it takes?”

 

Mabel looked confused for a moment, before gripping his arm and exclaiming, “Feel it! It’s SUPER soft!”

 

“Sheesh, alright. Just don’t shout.” As he spoke, Bill set down the sweater and took off the gloves that he had practically worn 24/7. Picking up the sweater once again, he had to admit that it was soft. Like, really soft. He let his fingers glide across the patterning once again, before looking over to Mabel, who sat there biting her lips in anticipation.

 

“Well,” she nodded, “Try it on.” 

 

“Okay.” Bill shrugged and took off his suit jacket, before untying the bow-tie around his neck. 

 

“WHa-what are you doing?” Mabel sputtered as Bill continued on obliviously. 

 

Bill looked at her curiously as he set down his tie, “I’m trying it on.”

 

“But why aren’t you just…” Mabel frantically waved her hands in the air, “... just poofing it on?!” 

 

“Oh… uhhh.” Bill tried to find the correct way to say  _ “Well I’m still pretty weak and this sweater already seems pretty nice and I don’t know what will happen if I break a promise, so I need to save as much power as possible so I can actually take you to visit the dimension in one piece, then I have to just change regularly becuase even though lighting a tabel on fire doesn’t use almost any magic, for some ridiculous reason getting changed uses up more magic.”  _

 

“I… ummm.... Heard the best way to tell if clothes are good is to try it on…”

 

Mabel just gave a blank stare.

 

“And I figured… if I am to do this right then I have to change into it like a regular human would?” 

 

Bill watched as Mabel looked him over before answering, “Fine, but next time warn me before you start stripping.” Mabel mumbled that last part under her breath so Bill couldn’t hear. 

 

With the green light from Mabel, Bill continued to unbutton his shirt. “My god, why do you humans have to have so many buttons and extra  _ things _ ?” 

 

Mabel sat there, eyes averted, she sighed “How am I supposed to know?” 

 

Bill reached over grabbing the sweater, and attempted to pull it on over his head. 

 

“Umph!” Bill couldn’t see anything, but knew he had somehow managed to get stuck. _“I can’t believe it.”_ Trying to keep from sounding flustered he tried his best to turn towards where Mabel would be, “Uh… hey. Shooting Star?”

 

Mabel looked back over to Bill only to burst out laughing at the sight. Bill had somehow managed to get both of this arms through the neck hole, and had gotten his head stuck in one of the sleeves. “Pfft!” Mabel wiped away tears of laughter, “Do ya need some help there?”

 

Bill groaned before muttering, “Yes.”

 

“Awe, the big  _ bad dorito _ needs my help.” Mabel cooed, relishing this moment.

 

Bill could feel the tickle of air on his bare chest, and was suddenly grateful for the sleeve that covered his growing blush of embarrassment. 

 

Mabel took a slight step forward before eyeing the helpless Bill and giving a devilish grin, “What’s the magic word?”

 

“I said get me out of here.” Bill grumbled as he continued to grow redder from the embarrassment.

 

“Ah ah ahhh. What’s the magic word?” 

 

“I don’t know, or care for that matter.” Bill grumbled as he continued to blindly struggle.

 

Mabel leaned in closer to the helpless Bill, “I’ll give you a hint, it starts with p and rhymes with fleas.”

 

Bill paused in his struggling and thought for a second before responding, “Proclivities?”

 

“W-what does that even mean?” Mabel knew she should have seen the sarcastic answer coming but was still taken off-guard, “Wait nevermind. Please, just say please.”

 

Bill whined, “Do I have to?”

 

“Yes, or I’ll leave you stuck in the sweater.” Mabel crossed her arms and waited. 

 

“Fineee,” Bill gritted his teeth, “Would you  _ please _ get me OUT OF THIS INSUFFERABLE sweater. 

 

Mabel shrugged, “Eh. Close enough.” She grabbed the hem of the sweater and pulled, quickly getting Bill out of his self-made trap. 

 

Immediately she handed the sweater back to Bill, “Now, put it on the right way. Arms in the sleeves, and then head through the big center hole. Got it?” Mabel listened as Bill simply mumbled a quiet “Yes.” And then sat back down on the couch.

 

_ “Only Bill could get stuck in a sweater so badly” _ Still, she had to admit it felt good to laugh like that, and she also discovered that somehow the Dorito had a nice six-pack. That little thought left her face feeling warm and a small pink blush crept up her neck.  _ “Not that it matters of course…”  _

 

“Huh, not too shabby Shooting Star.” Bill interrupted Mabel’s thoughts as he began showing off the sweater he had successfully managed to put on. Bill had to admit that it did fit quite well, and was extremely warm. 

 

Mabel let out an incomprehensible squeal before continuing, “I LOVE IT!” Almost almost immediately she began to scramble in circles around Bill, pointing out little tidbits of information about the sweater, “I made it loose. But not TOO loose. Oh, and the hemming is some of my best…” 

 

Bill rolled his eye and snorted, “I get it. I guess you did do better than I thought you’d do.”

 

Mabel’s eyes glistened hopefully, “So do you like it?”

 

Bill paused, he knew that if he said yes then it meant Mabel had won the dea- _ promise _ , and Bill prided himself on his honesty.

 

“Fine, because I pride myself on being honest…”

 

Mabel interrupted, “Honesty? Since when?!”

 

“Since always.” Bill snapped back “It’s just  _ some people _ can’t tell the difference between a partial truth and a lie.” 

 

“Blah, blah, blah. Just hurry up and tell me!” Mabel gripped his arm and hopped up and down. 

 

Bill averted his eye and mumbled “I like it…”

 

“Huh?” Mabel paused and tilted her head. “I didn’t hear you. Say it louder.”

 

“Don’t make me say it again.”

 

“I. Didn’t. Hear. You.”

 

Bill rubbed his forehead and let out a long huff. “I said… I like it.”

 

“Really?” A wide grin began to spread on Mabel’s face, “YES!” She began to scammper around the room hooting and hollering before turning, her face flushed and heart racing, “When do leave.”

 

Bill shaking his head Bill chuckled, “Whenever you’re ready.” 

 

Grin never leaving her face, Mabel walked up to him and grabbed his arm, “Let’s go now.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter may be my longest yet, and this is only the first half, I originally had this as one chapter, but will instead release the other half (where they actually go somewhere) in a few days.  
> I'm sorry I've been gone for so long, but I realized I had two ways to go with this Fic, one is where they finish the portal and it's a classic happy ending, or a longer story that would have to include some form of non-cannon villain to add an extra UMPH. (I just can't villainize Dipper, I just CAN'T). But, what do you guys want to see? I'm doing this for you and I'd love some input.  
> Thanks again for reading, LOVE YOU ALL!


	11. Getting a bit Tangled up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm finally back! Finals and school stress is finally over, which means I can finally get back to this story and you guys. So here it is, the long overdue next chapter.

 

* * *

**Narrator POV**

  
“Let’s go now.”  
  
Bill looked down at the girl gripping his arm, “Okay, but you might want to make sure you hold on tight.”  
  
“Wh-” snap “AIEEEEEE!” A flash of light blinded Mabel, suddenly she felt as if she was falling into the bottomless pit again. Just as suddenly as it had happened, another bright flash of light left her standing on solid ground, with her face buried in Bill’s side.  
  
“Man, I think that almost drained me of magic entirely, I hope she’s fine with this place for a few hours.” He looked down at the girl with her face buried in his chest, snorting he tried to shake Mabel off of him, “I told ya Shooting Star, hold on tight.”  
  
A muffled “You could have warned me sooner” could barely be heard from the pouty and still dizzy Mabel.  
  
“There’s no fun in that though.” Bill tried nudging her off of him as best as he could, “Now, can you let go?”  
  
Mabel turned to look up and pout, but instead was captivated by what she saw beyond Bill’s head. The sky. It wasn’t blue like earth’s, but was instead more a a light purple. Still, It was one of the prettiest skies she had ever seen. All she could do was utter a breathless “It… it’s so... wow.”  
  
Bill looked up at the sky and then back down at her, “I guess it is pretty.”  
  
After getting over her initial joy on being out of the mindscape, Mabel began to look around at more than the sky. It truly was a sweater dimension. The ground seemed to be made of yarn, the trees were knitting needles with branches covered in little knitted hats and gloves. She could have sworn that the clouds looked like they were made of toy stuffing poking out from behind balls of yarn that became hills. Unable to contain her excitement anymore, Mabel began to run. She hadn’t ran out in the open for so long, the feel of wind in her hair, and a ground that wasn’t wood floor felt incredible like pure inexhaustible bliss.  
  
Bill was content just relaxing against a nearby tree. Just watching Mabel run around made him feel tired. At the same time, the sound of her laughter, pure and loud, made him want to smile. “Thump-thump” He could feel his new human heart beating, fast, as if it was trying to run after the girl he stood there watching. Unsure of why he felt this way, Bill could only say to himself “I feel… sick?” Just as he asked himself that Mabel stopped and turned to face him, a dazzling smile was shot his way.  
  
Mabel sprinted up to Bill, “Come on!”  
  
“W-what?”  
  
“Join me!” Mabel’s eyes shone with a light that Bill had never seen before, “I promise it’ll be fun.”  
  
Bill rubbed the nape of his neck, “I think I’m good here M-Shooting Star. There’s nothing fun out here anyways.”  
  
Mabel stuck out her bottom lip in a pout, before running off again to climb some knitted trees nearby.  
  
“Whew, that was close.” Bill watched her attempt to climb a tree for a few minutes, before sitting down to think. “First things first; it looks like i’ll have to wait at least two more hours until I have enough magic to make a safe return. Second, I have to check up on Pine Tree to see how much longer it will be. I can’t keep her around for forever.”  
  
“ _But you don’t want her gone.”_  
  
_“It’s nice to have someone else around”_  
  
_“She’s in the way, a distraction from your goals.”_  
  
_“You know she still hates you._ ”  
  
“Hey! Bill!” Mabel interrupted his thoughts by shouting at him and proceeding to throw a knitted rock in his direction.  
  
“Huh?”  
  
“I’m going to go explore in these woods!”  
  
Bill only shrugged and watched her run into the forest of knitting needles and yarn.  
  
“ _Does she still hate me?_ ”  
  
Bill let that thought simmer. He knew he could never make up for what he had done, and still didn’t necessarily regret it, but for some reason the idea of her hating him made his stomach churn. He looked over towards the woods she had ran off into, “I’m pretty sure there aren’t any dangerous monsters here…” He had seen some small yarn bunny-like things earlier, but he was pretty sure they were innocent. “Eh, I’m sure she’ll be fine.” he frowned slightly as he laid down on the ground, “Maybe I can find some way to test out if she really does hate me…”  
  
Bill sat like that for a while, until he heard Mabel calling out, “Look! Over here!”  
  
He sat up lazily and glanced over, in her hands Mabel was waving a ball of yarn that looked like pure gold. “It’s so PRETTY!”  
  
“Where did you find that?” Bill called out curiously, before deciding to get up and head over to the hill she was standing on top of. “Why does it seem so familiar?”  
  
“It was just laying in the woods!”  
  
“Wait…” He heard it, a light thudding. Bill began to pick up his pace up the large hill, he tried shouting to her “Throw it away!”  
  
Mabel, too proud of her shiney discovery had no plans on throwing it anywhere, instead she put her hands on her hips and looked down at Bill, “No way!”  
  
“Listen to me!” Bill tried to stay as calm as possible. _Thud, thud, thud._ Bill gritted his teeth, “ _How can she not hear that?!”_  
  
“You’re just jealous because YOU didn’t find it!”  
  
Bill was almost up the hill, too worried and frustrated to answer. That’s when he stopped. It was quiet. Now he was close enough to tell that golden ball of yarn was exactly what he thought it was. “ _Why did it stop?_ ” He looked around, “ _Crap! It doesn’t just give up._ ”  
  
Mabel could see what looked like fear? No, concerned terror in his eye as Bill just stood a few feet below her, looking around franticly. “Hey, you doing okay man?”  
  
Bill’s eye snapped up to face meet Mabel’s, before widening in realization, “ _It pounces!_ ” Before he could tell her that, there was a loud whoosh. A giant black shadow covered the sun, causing Mabel to look up. “No. No. NO!” Bill began to sprint the last few feet.  
  
“WATCH OUT!”  
  
Bill lunged at her, grabbing Mabel they began to tumble down the hill. Just as soon as they fell, he heard a crashing sound followed by a deep bellowing come from where Mabel had been standing just seconds earlier. Bill caught a few glimpses of the creature as he gripped Mabel tightly to his chest and tumbled down the hill.  
  
Crashing into a wall of thick bushes, they lay there panting. Mabel tried sitting up, but Bill quickly pushed her back down, covering her mouth. “Stay still!” Bill hissed as quietly as possible, craning his neck to try and see the beast. He felt Mabel’s head shake up and down in agreement. Slowly he got off of Mabel, allowing her to crouch next to him.  
  
From the other side of the bush they could hear the beast bellowing in rage as it tore through the nearby trees, sending small woolen creatures scampering from their homes.  
  
Mabel watched the critters as they began to scatter, “We’ve got to stop it.”  
  
“No. We throw that egg away and stay put.”  
  
Mabel looked back at the little animals running around frantically, the terror on her face was quickly replaced by determination and a glint in her eye. She turned to look at Bill, “Why does that thing want this ball of yarn?”  
  
Bill looked away from the impressive destruction and looked at the ball of yarn still in her hands, “That would be an egg.”  
  
Mabel looked back down at the ball of yarn in her hand, “There’s no way! It’s so small and that thing is so big.”  
  
He sighed before pushing the top of Mabel’s head down to avoid it being seen, “That thing is called a Goldenes-Ungeheuer. And trust me, you do not want to get caught stealing their EGGS. And besides the only thing you can do is throw the egg away and hope it finds the egg before it finds us.”  
  
Bill reached out to grab the egg. Mable leaned backwards, gripping the egg close to her chest, “I’m not going to let it just rip apart an entire forest and possibly hurt innocent animals.” She stood up so her torso was poking out of the foliage.  
  
“Shooting Star?!” Bill hissed in frustration as he tried to get her to sit back down. “Just leave the egg. No one cares if a few knitting needles are lost…”  
  
“HEY!” Mabel completely ignored him and began to scream while waving her hands in the air, “LOOK OVER HERE, I HAVE YOUR EGG!”  
  
Bill shot up and and covered her mouth, but it was too late. The beast had already heard her, and with a low growl began to creep towards the two. Bill leaned in close to her ear before whispering, “On the count of three you throw that damn egg and we run into the woods.”  
  
Mabel, now realising that although she may have just saved some stuffed wildlife, she had now put herself in danger of becoming the bloody dinner of a monster made of yarn immediately began to regret her decision.    
  
“One…”  
  
Mabel felt old memories of being trapped and terrified begin to resurface.  
  
“Two…”  
  
_“Not now, not now_ ” She shook her head and tried to calm herself.  
  
“Three!”  
  
Instincts took over, Mabel threw the egg as hard as she could, as Bill pulled her up and began to sprint.  
  
She looked over her shoulder to see the Goldenes-whatever spare a quick glance at the egg before charging towards her and Bill.  
  
“BILL!” Mabel began to panic as she shouted, “It’s still following us!”  
  
Without turning around to look at her Bill huffed “Just start running, I know what to do.”  
  
Now was not the time to be wary of the dream demon, so instead of questioning him Mabel ran alongside him as the wove between trees to make it harder for the monster to catch them. Bill spotted what seemed to be a clearing to his right, and turned his head to call out to Mabel, “This wa-”  
  
Bill ran face first into a tree.  
  
Luckily Mabel still heard him and pulled him up as she started running towards the clearing. They stumbled into the center of the clearing with the monster right at their heels. Bill grabbed Mabel by the waist and pulled her up to him grunting, “Stay close.”  
  
The monster burst into the clearing and charged the two, unsure of what to do next Mabel could only look up at Bill as his grip on her waist tightened. A small streak of crimson blood began to flow from his nose, but what bothered her most was his expression. His soft gold eye had taken on a steely glint, and a malicious grin had carved itself onto his face. Bill raised his hand and snapped.  
  
_Fwoosh_  
  
A spark of white hot flames burst forth and landed between them and the beast, creating a wall of fire around the two.  
  
It burned. It wasn’t the fire that seemed to burn Mabel, it was the memories. Flashes of burning buildings and people running and screaming as fire seemed to rain down. It was burning her up from the inside. The steely gold eye, the devilish grin, the fire, it burned. Darkness started to creep into the corners of her vision, she felt her legs begin to go numb and then collapse. Mabel felt herself begin to fall, a faded hand grabbed her and all she could see was a blurred soft gold eye frantically watching her and heard a muffled cry before everything went dark, “ **MABEL!** ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Left you guys on a little cliff hanger didn't I? ;)
> 
> Thank you so much for still staying loyal to this story, I know it was probably frustrating not having me update for so long, but these past few months have been riddled with stress, personal, familial, and pretty much every other issue out there for me. 
> 
> As I said earlier, I'm now done with school for the year, so that means I can get back to a regular update schedule, but be warned we just got a new puppy last week and she's been ensuring I get no more than three hours of sleep a night, and next week my grandpa has to have a brain surgery so I would not be expecting a new chapter update for another 2 weeks since this is kind of a crazy time.
> 
> Enough of that, THANK YOU SO MUCH, honestly I get so much positive feedback it makes me ecstatic, and yes, Bill finally said her name. See you soon!
> 
> Love, Emerald_Queeny


	12. Bonds and Old Rivals

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IIIIIIII'MMMMM BAAAAAAAACK!!!!!
> 
> I promise I'll give a small explanation, but when push comes to shove I was simply lazy. But, since Thanksgiving was just a few days ago this is my small thanks to the people who have been begging me to continue with this story. So after a very long hiatus I am back with a new chapter.

Mabel had just collapsed into Bill’s arms, and he had no idea what to do. The only thing he could do was scream her name and hold her. “I have to get back.” Bill muttered as he clutched the unconscious girl to his heaving chest. Closing his eye he whispered under his breath, “Please don’t let us get stuck, please don’t let us get stuck…” desperately he snapped his fingers and they teleported back to the dreamscape.

When he opened his eye and saw that they were back in the main room of the dreamscape, letting out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding. Teetering slightly Bill made his way over to the couch, before lowering the still unconscious Mabel onto it. Still unsure of what to do -- since he had never dealt with something like this before -- Bill knelt down to feel Mabel’s forehead. Leaning in closer he could feel her shallow breaths brushing the tip of his nose. He let loose another sigh of relief, at least he knew she was still alive.

Bill felt a wave of what he guessed must have been exhaustion hit him as he rested his head and arms on the couch next to Mabel, muttering something incoherent. A few seconds later, although it seemed like hours to him, Mabel began to shift. She sat up looking slightly pale and bewildered. Feeling her begin to move, Bill sprung up from his spot next to the couch, his eye lighting up in relief.

“Are you hurt?!” He blurted as soon as Mabel had sat up.

“Ugh.” Mabel rubbed her temple, “Sorry, I’m… I’m alright.”

Unconsciously, Bill reached out and grasped Mabel’s hand in his own with a desperate look in his eye Bill pleaded, “Don’t ever do that again. You hear me!?”  
Shocked by his words, mabel glanced down at his hand around hers before lightly tugging her own out of his grasp. “I won’t, okay. Just don’t do that ever again.”

“Do what?”

“Sigh , the fire thing…” She lightly gripped his fingers in hers once more, looking up at him pleadingly, “Please, don’t do it again.”

Bill recognized that look in her eye, it was similar to the ones she gave him when he first sent her into the mindscape; back then they were accusing as if they said “you’re doing this on purpose,” now though it was more of a “you did the only thing you could do, don’t blame yourself.” He wasn’t sure when this change had taken place, but even so caused his stomach to churn, but like a good churn? He let a soft crooked smile grace his face, “I’m not making any more promises.”

Mabel just rolled her eyes, “Bill.”

Bill was too… he didn’t really know what he was feeling. His eye felt sore and his eyelid kept drooping. Whatever he was feeling, it made it so he didn’t even have the energy to argue with Mabel, not even playfully. “Yeah, I won’t.” His head bobbed to the side slightly.

Mabel watched as Bill continued to try and stay awake while standing, swaying from side to side where he stood. The corner of her lips twitched up as she shook her head, sliding to the side of the long couch, letting go of Bill’s hand she patted the open cushion next to her, “Sit with me for a bit.”

Bill just nodded his head wearily and flopped down next to her, though he made sure to never actually get too close. He didn’t know why he was feeling like this, maybe he really had drained himself after that whole monster encounter? Even so, he couldn’t do much about it but bob his head as Mabel began to lightly hum. It was so calm and soothing, something he had never really experienced before. His eye slowly closed and his mind became fuzzy. Bill scarcely registered the fact that he was now resting his head on Mabel’s shoulder when he had finally drifted off into something he had never before experienced first-hand… sleep.

Mabel watched the man for a minute or so as his ragged breathing slowed down and he began to snore lightly. She almost wanted to laugh. Who would have ever guessed that a big scary dream demon that tried to kill her when she was little would one day end up sleeping with his head on her shoulder? She lightly chuckled as her hand accidentally brushed against his hair as she tried to readjust. “Huh?” She placed her hand on his head, “Holy cow!” her eyes widened and she began to run her hand through his hair, “It’s so soft…” was all she could manage to whisper in shock. It seemed like Bill always had some kind of surprise up his sleeve. Yeah, he was a bit rough and uncouth at times, and had even been the cause of most of her issues so long ago, but even so she had to admit he was a surprisingly good guy at times. As she mused over these thoughts, Mabel’s heart began to beat just a bit faster and anyone watching would have sworn her cheeks got a few shades darker.

Even so Bill’s relaxed breathing made her happy, taking her hands away from his head for a moment she shifted herself and him so that he was laying with his head on her lap. She wasn’t sure how long they stayed like that, Mabel only knew that at some point while she softly played with Bill’s hair she began to nod off and fell asleep too, exhausted from the adventurous day they had.

* * *

 

**Bill POV**

“Where am I?” Bill looked around in confusion, the main room and Mabel both nowhere to be seen, instead there was only an intense fog that made it so he could barely see a single step in any direction. It was annoying. “Where am I?!” Bill shouted out into the nothingness. “SHO-Mabel? Is this one of your pranks?! Because it isn’t funny!”

Bill tried to think back, the last thing he could remember was his head falling onto Mabel’s shoulders as she hummed and falling… asleep. Bill froze, he was a dream demon. He wasn’t supposed to sleep. It had to have been the new body. His mind racing, Bill could only guess that the only reason he hadn’t needed sleep in the past few weeks was because his demonic power still made him stronger than the average human, like how he only needed to eat every other day before even feeling slightly hungry. Even so Bill looked around, this wasn’t his own dreamscape, that much he knew on his own. Beginning to get frustrated Bill stomped his foot, shouting into the nothingness encompassing him, “DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?! DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE MESSING WITH?!”

From seemingly all around him Bill heard a low chuckling, it was throaty and warbled, who was it?

With the tips of his hair starting to turn red, “WHO ARE YOU?!” Bill was roaring, he had to get back to Mabel, this was wrong, he still had no idea where he even was.

“Oh-ho-ho.” Bill whipped around. “Lookie here…” The voice was low and lazy, like rolling thunder in the distance. The fog began to part in front of bill, a light “tap, tap…” could be heard as a figure began to emerge from the shadows.

“No…” was all Bill could say as the figure stood just three feet away from him. They… he, was similar to Bill in shape and size. He tood tall and proud in a dark purple suit and bowler hat, his hands resting on an umbrella of the same color. His eyes were covered by purple hair so dark it was almost black.

“Well well well.” The man took a step forward, “I never thought I’d see _the_ Bill Cipher looking like this.” The man stood still for a while, grinning like a madman. The now fuming Bill took a step closer, and another, and another, until they were standing face to face.

Bill glared at the man, “I’m surprised you of all the demons would look like that yourself.” Bill spat at the man, “I thought you had learned your lesson eons ago.” Bill jabbed his thumb towards his own chest, “I’m the strongest demon.”

The man just chuckled, “Oh, of course. After All…” the man waved his hands around him, “I am definitely not the one who broke into your dreams.” He leaned in close to Bill, “You did earn the title of Demon of Dreams didn’t you? You just happen to like chaos.” The man leaned back, humming as Bill began to try and calm down.

“What do you want?” Bill stood with his hands crossed in front of him. “Do you want a rematch? Or maybe you’re trying to take my territory If so then I’ve got news, earth isn’t yours. None of my dimension is.”

The man just shook his head and chuckled, “Oh, you’ve always been the simpleton haven’t you?” The man sneered, “Your dimension is only as strong as you are. Look at you…” Bill could only guess the man was looking him up and down, judging him and his new body. “Heh, look at you. I remember when you used to sneer at the humans as they began to learn and grow, and now look at you.” The man shoved Bill’s chest, “A human body of your own, how the tables have turned.”

Bill bared his teeth, “You shouldn’t be talking.”

The man`just laughed, “Unlike you, I chose this body. While you focused your time on the dreams and the intangible, I actually learned how to manipulate the true reality.” The man whistled, with a puff of lilac smoke the man was replaced by a glowing bat-like creature. Another whistle came from its snout like mouth, another puff of lilac smoke and the man stood in front of Bill once again.

Bill just crossed his arms, back to his normal coloration he still glared at the man in frustration “Nice parlor trick. Now what do you want?”

The man swung his umbrella around in a circle before leaning against it. “Not much. I just wanted to see how my eons old rival was holding up.” The man paused before taking a step back and grinning wildly, “And I wanted to see your new harlot…” with a quick whistle an image of Mabel resting peacefully with Bill’s head lying on her lap popped into view, “... and might I add she’s quite a broad. I might want her for myself” Bill lunged at the man who whistled and disappeared from view as Bill clutched at thin air.

Roaring, Bill searched wildly, “DON’T YOU DARE!”

Popping up above him the man gloated, “Wadya know?! The baddest of the bad Bill Cipher has a soft spot.” Bill tried to go after the man but realized he couldn’t use any of his powers. Instead he tried to jump, but the man just laughed and gloated, “Finally realized didn’t ya? You may be asleep, but this isn’t your dream and I’m the one in control here.” Bill just stood there, blood red with rage. The man just watched him before continuing lightly, “I’m bored, I think it’s time for you to wake up now.” He whistled and a small portal appeared next to Bill who just stared at it warily. “Don’t worry, I’m not that awful. Besides, I think you want to get back to your pretty little kidnapee don’t you?”

Bill slowly took a step towards the portal before turning to the man, “Do anything and I. Will. Kill. You.” He turned and began to step into the portal back to his own dreams.

“HEY!” The man shouted gleefully, “Don’t forget to tell your Shooting Star that if she ever wants to have some real fun, then the Demon of Chaos…” the man pointed to himself, “...me, Tad Strange will be waiting.”

Bill just huffed in disgust and stepped into the portal.

Bill woke up with a jolt, sitting upright he bent over to clutch at his chest. “It can’t be…” he muttered to himself. Looking over he watched as Mabel silently slept. He leaned next to her as their shoulders lightly touched. He watched her quietly, feeling himself calm down as well. Quietly so as not to wake her, he pulled her head onto his shoulder and just sat there listening to her soft breathing.   
What was happening? Why was Tad of all people back? Why… why did Tad insulting the girl next to him make Bill want to destroy him ten times over? What was going to happen next?

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so let me tell you. This chapter took me forever, partially because of the fact that what I wrote in this chapter would affect the rest of the story and how I write it. Also I've just had a shit-storm of a summer/ senior year of high school, I'll spare you the details, but I was a mess. But, something that kept me going in not just my writing, but almost every part of my life these past few months has been you guys. The ones that send messages begging for updates, and the ones liking and bookmarking this story, you guys keep me going and I love you, even if I don't show it all that well. Thanks for everything. And don't worry. I'm never taking a hiatus like that again if it kills me.


	13. If I roll my Eye One More Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY NEW YEARS MY LOVELY READERS. This is one of my longest chapters yet, and I think it's a good way for me to start off my New Year.

 

* * *

 

Eyes still closed shut, Mabel couldn’t help but feel at peace as she cuddled back into her pillow. It was firm yet covered in something soft, and she buried her nose into it taking in the deep scent of cinnamon and delphiniums, which reminded her of when she used to try and grow them back home. It was all so _perfect_ she didn’t want it to end. Then Mabel noticed her “pillow” rise and fall slightly as if it was breathing, after a moment of confusion she noticed the weight of an arm lazily draped across her shoulders. Opening her eyes slightly Mabel glanced up only to see Bill’s face just inches above hers, but looking the other way.

 

_“OMG! I fell asleep on his… on his shoulder!”_ Mabel stiffened up, unsure of what to do. _“He’s going to kill me. Maybe if I get up slowly he will let it slide? Oh no, no, no.”_ Mabel stole another quick glance up at Bill through barely opened eyes. _“He wouldn’t be too mad, right? How could he be angry at me for being tired?”_ Trying to justify herself, Mabel’s flustered mind couldn’t help but notice some less… important things.

 

_“Dang, from this angle you can totally see how chiseled his jawline is. I guess even if he’s not a triangle he’ll always have sharp edges.”_ She struggled to contain a squeak of surprise as Bill shifted a bit more in order to run his free hand -- that wasn’t currently resting on Mabel’s shoulder -- through his hair. _“Oh yeah, his hair was like running your fingers through fluffy clouds with kittens.”_ Mabel couldn’t help herself, after all her brain always had a thing for the cute guys (and girls.) Suddenly remembering her precarious situation, Mabel squeezed her eyes shut deciding to just wait until Bill either woke her up on her own, or just got up and left.

 

After waiting in suspense for another ten or so minutes without him moving Mabel just lightly shrugged to herself, _“Welp… It’s not everyday you get to sleep on/next to a hot guy.”_ With that thought Mabel curled herself up a bit more into Bill’s side while trying to not just end up sitting in his lap. She felt Bill look down at her, before his chest began to lightly shake and he let out a low chuckle. Bill. Chuckling, and not in a threatening way. Was she dreaming?

 

She could barely hear Bill whisper, “Mable. I don’t know how you do it.”

 

_“How I do what?”_ was all she could think.

 

Bill just continued whispering, and drew the girl he thought was sound asleep even closer, “Even at the worst of times you have to act so…” she felt him pause for a moment as if he was unsure of what to say, “...so fun. And here I thought I was the only one who knew how to have some fun.”

 

Mabel felt weird. Hearing Bill whisper stuff like that made her face heat up just slightly and heart speed up just enough to make her want to clutch at her chest. She could feel him shifting slightly, before she suddenly felt his deep cold breaths brush against the top of her head, she felt the pressure of something soft and cold touch her head before it quickly went away and she felt Bill drawback.

* * *

 

**Bill POV**

 

Bill paid no attention to the girl sleeping on his shoulder, instead he kept replaying his encounter with Tad over and over in his mind.

 

Bill still couldn’t understand why Tad would appear now; Pine Tree was close to finishing the portal, he had formed some kind of relationship with Mabel although what it was Bill had no clue, something else had changed too but Bill had no idea what it was either. Things were finally looking up for him, once the portal was finished he would conquer earth and the Pine’s dimension. He’d take Mabel as his…servant? Maid? General? He really didn’t know, all he knew was that he did not want her to leave his side for as long as possible. Not only that but it seemed that Tad had taken some interest in Mabel as well.

 

With that thought still buzzing in his head Bill felt Mabel shift. Looking down he watched as she snuggled into him, so that she was almost sitting on his lap. Bill just smiled and drew her closer to him. Images of Mabel swirled in his head, making him smirk and chuckle to himself, until he began to whisper to the sleeping girl things he hadn't even considered thinking about before, “Mabel.” Saying her name still seemed funny, but he had to admit that he liked it, it felt more personal… more powerful. “I don’t know how you do it. Even at the worst of times you act so…” He paused for a moment, taking in how ethereal she looked at that moment, even though her hair was a tangled mess and she still had dirt smudged on her face from their latest escapade, “...so fun. And here I thought I was the only one who knew how to have fun.” He wanted to say more, but these new human feelings couldn’t be translated, and as he watched Mabel sleeping peacefully next to him his mind began to melt.

 

Without thinking Bill slowly lowered his head, pausing just centimeters away from her head. Bill wasn’t sure why he was doing this, so he tried justifying it to himself as he still hovered his face just centimeters away from the top of her head. _“Is she warm all over? Yeah, I’m just curious… about warmth.”_ Sealing the deal with his weak excuse, Bill lightly pressed his lips to the top of her head, relishing in the warmth of her skin and the sweet yet unidentifiable scent of Mabel that came from her hair. Suddenly he realized what he was doing and snapped his head back up, slamming his forehead into his palm with a loud SMACK.

 

“Wha-Why? Why did I just…”  Before Bill could continue asking himself twenty different whats and whys Mabel woke up from her sleep. She flung herself up, bright pink and wide-eyed.

 

“Shit.” Bill began to do something he always loved seeing others do, but hated himself, panic. “Uh… HiHeyWassup? Oh wow…” Bill looked down at his bare wrist while trying to will the burning heat making it’s way up his neck away, “look at the time, hahaha! IGottaGOnow!SeeYouLaterMab-SHOOTING STAR!” With that final outburst Bill snapped his fingers and disappeared from the mindscape.

* * *

 

**Mabel POV**

 

Mabel just sat there, too stunned to do anything but lightly touch where Bill had just _kissed_ the top of her head. She slapped her hands to her cheeks and squealed in shock and joy. After being unable to calm down she just sat there giggling to herself like a schoolgirl for a minute or two until she was left in bewilderment.

 

Her joy was replaced by a sobering question, _“Do I like him?”_ Of course Mabel liked Bill, he had begun to grow on her and she had to admit he wasn’t all bad. Even so, a part of her still couldn’t get past what he had done to her in the past, and the type of like she was worried about was more than just liking someone. More importantly, did he even know what it meant to like someone like that, or was he just messing with her? What if it was all a trick? Was it even possible to consider that as a kiss? Now deflated and even more confused, Mabel sat in the silence of the large empty room until her stomach interrupted the silence with a loud rumble.

 

She muttered to herself, “Maybe some food will help.” With that she stumbled up and headed over to the kitchen.

* * *

 

**Bill POV**

 

Bill was nervously pacing back and forth behind the dreamscape Mystery Shack. He couldn’t understand what he had just done, and was getting more and more confused by the second. He wanted to throw up, throw a party, and throw himself off a balcony all at once, the still alien feelings and thoughts were throwing him for a loop that Bill didn’t think he would recover from. Stopping, he looked up when he heard a distant giggling coming from inside the Shack. “Someone must be dreaming.” Bill got a mischievous glint in his eye as he realized a distraction may be just what he needed. Following the noise Bill floated into the shack, where he saw the ghostly outline of a sleeping Pine Tree slumped onto the poker table, surrounded by papers. Creeping up so he wouldn’t be noticed, Bill watched as Pine Tree’s dream unfolded.

 

Dream Dipper was sitting on the other side of the poker table from his misty sleeping body. On his lap sat the prissy alpaca zodiac… Bill couldn’t remember her name. Pastel? Priscilla Notebook? Pacifier? PACIFICA! Bill vaguely remembered that her father had been a follower of his until his sudden decision to be a last minute hero. Why was she in Pine Tree’s lap though? He watched as the two giggled on for what he could only describe as longer than his own lifetime, only to have the shack slowly melt away and be replaced by flaming walls on all sides, slowly creeping up into a blood-red sky. Dipper seemed slightly worried as he looked around.

 

_“Diiiiperrrrr”_ Dream Pacifica whined seductively trying to catch his attention, once Dream Dipper looked over to her Bill could see Dream Pacifica begin to bubble. Her skin looked like boiling water, bursting and popping. Dipper was trying to scream but nothing was coming out, instead dream Pacifica began to melt in his lap, her skin sliding off to reveal sinewy muscle which then slowly sizzled away to reveal stark white bone that soon crumbled to ash.

 

Dream Dipper was stuck in a silent scream, as ashes piled up on and around him, the walls of flame closed in on him getting closer by the second. Something about it all didn’t sit well with Bill. He watched a foggy sleeping Dipper begin to shiver as he slept while beads of sweat rolled down his forehead. Bill was confused, nightmares of this magnitude were pretty rare in terms of everyday nightmares, even now Dream Dipper was trying to avoid the oncoming walls of flame to no avail. Then it hit Bill. Mabel had told him just recently that she needed more of her pills. It was only a guess, but Bill was almost positive that Pine Tree had also probably ran out, but had been too busy rebuilding the portal to probably even care. That would explain the red sky, fire, and melting people. Something tugged at Bill’s gut he could hear Mabel in his head shouting at him and scolding him for just standing there and watching her brother suffer while he was in Bill’s domain, dreams. Sighing in defeat BIll snapped his fingers, and the walls of flame disappeared with the Shack beginning to slowly reform around Dream Dipper. While Dream Dipper looked around in confusion Bill whipped on a devilish grin and waited for him to turn around.

 

Dream Dipper turned around, seeing Bill he jumped back in surprise. Before Bill could make a snarky comment though, Dipper began to angrilly march towards him. His long strides meant that in mere second they were standing eye to eye, Dipper curled his fist and swung at the demon before he had any time to respond.

 

Bill stumbled back clutching his nose in shock, looking back up he saw Dipper getting ready to take another swing at him a fire in his eyes that could only rival the anger he had seen in Mabel. Bill rolled to the side and snapped his fingers causing Dipper’s arms and legs to be tied up by an invisible rope, which was followed by a thud and a pained grunt as he came crashing into the floor.

 

Bill stood back up and stood over the struggling young man and cheerfully spoke, “Nice to see ya too Pine Tree!” He rubbed his nose where Dipper had punched him, “I hafta admit you got a pretty good punch, almost as strong as your sister.” At the slightest mention of Mabel Dipper’s eyes hardened and he began to struggle against the invisible bonds. Bill just rolled his eye and bent down to took at the man closer, “Relax. I kept my end of the deal up, Ma-” Bill quickly stopped himself before sucking in a deep breath and continuing, “Shooting Star is perfectly fine.” Dipper stopped struggling and looked up at Bill in confusion. “Ya know, if you promise not to try and punch me again I’ll let you go.” Dipper just slowly nodded his head, it was clear he did not like lying on the ground tied up at the demon’s mercy. Bill stood back up and took a few steps back before snapping his fingers. Immediately Dipper sat up and began to rub his wrists for a moment before standing back up to look Bill in the eye.

 

“Your portal is almost done, so you can go now.” Dipper glared at Bill, making it clear that he was in no mood to chat with him.

 

Bill just waved him off, “Yeah yeah.” He watched shock spread across Dipper’s face, and Bill quickly reached into his mind to see what he was thinking.

 

_“Yeah?! What the hell? What does he want if he doesn’t care about the portal? Another deal?”_ Dipper was panicking and Bill enjoyed getting to hear him panic.

 

Bill shrugged, “Relax Pine Tree I don’t want to make a deal.”

 

Dipper looked shocked for a moment before hardening his gaze again, “What do you want then.” Crossing his arms Dipper watched the demon closely.

 

Bill twirled his cane in the air for a moment before answering as nonchalantly as possible, “I need more of her pills. Shooting Star is out and if you want me to keep up my end of the deal I need them.”

 

Dipper dropped his arms and stared at Bill in confusion, “The-the pills? She has an extra bottle in the kitchen cabinet…” his sentence trailed off as Dipper continued to watch Bill in total confusion.

 

Bill smirked and bowed in the most extra way possible. “Good to hear. Also…” He glanced back up at the young man, “Don’t forget to take yours, Shooting Star would kill me if she found out you weren’t taking them.” With that he shot back up and snapped his fingers, and appeared in the real Mystery Shack. Looking to the side he say Dipper begin to stir in his sleep.

 

Striding over to the cabinets Bill began to open them up, searching for the tiny bottle with Mabel’s name on it. After slamming two cabinets shut in frustration he heard the soft patter of footsteps before looking over to see Pacifica standing in the doorway watching him in terror. Bill stopped what he was doing and just waved his hand in an almost robotic wave, which received a small wave from the terrified Pacifica. Letting out a small breath in frustration Bill turned around to lean against the counter almost casually. He looked over the petite blonde before muttering a curse to himself and shaking his head, “What do you want Blondie?”

 

His words shook Pacifica from her stupor, “Bill?”

 

He rolled his eye -- something he noticed he’d been doing a lot recently -- “The one and only.”

 

“What… what are you doing here? Is Mabel okay?” Pacifica took a small step forward.

 

“Yes she is perfectly fine.” Pacifica relaxed as soon as Bill said that.

“That’s a relief.” She looked up at Bill expectantly, “Why are you here though?”

 

Bill figured he might as well tell her, at least she would be willing to help him find what he was looking for so he could just get out of this place and get away from all of these people. “I just need to find Shooting Star’s pills and then I’ll get out of this disgusting place.” Expecting just a response Bill was shocked when Pacifica just shook her head and walked over to the cabinet next to him.

 

Reaching in she pulled out a small orange bottle, “Here.”

 

Bill reached out to grab it out of her hand, but Pacifica just stepped back. “First you have to tell me how Mabel is doing.”

 

Bill groaned and looked up at the ceiling in defeat, why was everyone Mabel knew so annoyingly headstrong? “She is fine.” Pacifica just raised her eyebrows at his response, silently demanding more information. “... she’s eating and getting plenty of sleep?” Pacifica just stared, “Fine. I gave her knitting supplies so she isn’t bored… she even knit me a sweater.”

 

At that Pacifica slightly lowered the bottle, “Is she happy?”

 

Bill thought back for a moment, remembering her grinning as she ran through the meadow in the other dimension they visited, her soft laughs and snarky attitude from the past few days. Bill unknowingly smiled softly, “Yeah, Mabel’s happy.”

 

Remembering who he was talking to he looked down at Pacifica wiping the smile off his face. “Now give me the bottle Blondie.”

 

Pacifica smirked, “You like her don’t you?”

 

Bill’s eye widened for a moment before he hastily responded, “No. Give me the bottle you… dumb blonde.”

 

Pacifica just cryptically snickered and held out the bottle, “I guess the big baddie has a soft spot, just don’t hurt her.” Something about her reaction bothered Bill, why wasn’t she scared or angry? As if she had read his mind Pacifica just smiled and looked over to the still sleeping Dipper, “If there is one thing I know it’s the face of a man in love, and I can already tell you wouldn’t hurt her…” Before she could say anything else Bill quickly grabbed the bottle from her hands and poofed back into his Mindscape.

 

Bill looked down at the bottle in confusion “I like… Mabel?” He clasped his hand to his face as the sudden realization of Pacifica’s words hit him like a train falling from the sky. He could feel the burning blush before straightening up and hurriedly going off to try and find Mabel, now was not the time for this. He was a demon. Not a human.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoop, a new chapter has been written and right before the New Year, the holidays have been a pain in the butt and I only just finished some of my college apps that I had been procrastinating on.
> 
> Anyways I'd just like to say thank you for all the support I've gotten on this and my one resolution for 2018 is to finish this because you all deserve it. Speaking of which I think I need a hype man or something, like a follower who'd be willing to force me to stay on top of this, and possibly be like a beta reader. If you're interested I'm sure there is a way to contact me through me account? IDK?
> 
> ANYWAYS I LOVE YOU ALL AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!  
> \- Love, Emerald Queeny


	14. The Chain Linking Us Together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'MMMM BACK! All I can say is whoever said Senior year of high school is not stressful LIED. But anyways here is a nice chapter over 3,000 words long. Let me tell you, this chapter did everything but write itself. I actually had to break it up into another chapter because it was wayyyy to long.

* * *

  
Mabel sat in the little kitchen, sighing and nudging her food around with her fork. All that was needed was some sad music and she’d be the star of one of those overdramatic telenovelas Soos’ Abuelita used to watch.

She had almost lost track of the days it had been since she and Bill had what she would now refer to as the “Incident.” He had come back to the dreamscape pretty soon after he had left, walking up to where Mabel had been sitting and just lightly placing her pill bottle next to her and muttering “Here you go.” Before Mabel could ask what was wrong he had just stiffly ran off, leaving her sitting there in confusion. In the past probably four days he had barely spoken a word to her. Whenever Mabel entered a room he was in Bill would just silently stand up and either walk away or poof off to who knows where. It was starting to worry her. Had she done something wrong? Did he realize she had heard everything he said? Had she managed to insult him?

A part of Mabel knew that she shouldn’t have been so worried about what the dream demon thought about her, after all they used to be enemies. Even so, she thought they had made some progress in the past few weeks. Heck, she was sure that by now she could have at least called him a friend. Or maybe even… no, she could never. Mabel shook her head in a half-hearted attempt to shake the thought from her mind. Even so her heart felt heavy.

Being ignored made her realize just how lonely the dreamscape was. The emptiness of all the rooms bothered her to no end, it was as if someone had started suffocating her; drawing all the excitement out slowly and steadily. The entire place seemed emptier and it was times like this, when there was no one else around that Mabel hated. She didn’t hate or even dislike very many things, but Mabel could never stand being alone, more specifically she couldn’t stand feeling abandoned. “And he lived with this for longer than I could ever know.”

She needed to stop thinking about him. Mabel always fell for people pretty easy, that was a given, but falling for the demon that literally tortured her family seemed just ridiculous. Sure, he had never actually tried to harm her, he had even saved her life from that monster, and by all accounts Bill seemed to genuinely care at times. Even so, taking over her dimension to spread so called “chaos” was something she couldn’t understand or condone at the end of the day. Mabel sighed again, mulling over all the confusing thoughts and feelings she was stuck dealing with on her own.

“I just need to wait it out until I return to the Shack. Then I can just forget about all of this.”

Even so, some part of her didn’t want to forget, and she hoped that maybe Bill wouldn’t want to forget either. As if on cue she heard light footsteps and the creaking of the door opening. In stepped the demon, his hair slightly disheveled and eye tired. Compared to his normal clean-cut and shiney self Bill seemed dull and worn out, exhausted even.

Standing up in concern Mabel tentatively stepped towards the man, “Bill?” He looked up at her mixed emotions that couldn’t be read were swirling across his face. “Are you okay?”

Bill just tried to straighten his back and stand taller muttering something under his breath, “You… f…”

Mabel cocked her head in confusion, taking a step closer, “What?”

Sucking in a deep breath Bill seemed as if he was trying to keep from running away, his leg shaking and arms clenched down at his side. He spoke through gritted teeth, “You’re free.”

“What?”

Bill averted his eye and grimaced, “What do you think? They finished the portal. You’re free.” Before Mabel could question him again Bill reached out and tugged on Mabel’s arm, holding her but just so they barely touched. He snapped his fingers and in a flash of blinding light the dreamscape vanished and was replaced with the Mystery Shack kitchen.

Glancing around in partial shock, Mabel watched as everyone began to panic and scatter. Grunkle Ford leapt up as fast as his aching body would allow, his ray gun pointed at Bill’s chest. Dipper struggled to stand upright as he clenched his hands into fists and crouched into a fighting position, although Mabel made eye contact with him and saw him sigh in what she could only assume was relief. Grunkle Stan has a golf club hanging above his head, ready to swing at any minute. If it hadn’t been for the mix of emotions Mabel was currently feeling it almost would have been funny. Instead she just looked around, finally understanding that she was home again.

“MABEL!” Pacifica’s shrill voice broke the thick silence as she pounced at Mabel from the doorway, swiftly wrapping Mabel up in her arms and hugging her tightly. She felt Bill let go of her as Pacifica held her in a bone crushing hug for a few minutes, until finally she let go only to have the rest of Mabel’s family charge her with a giant group hug. By now Mabel was laugh crying, laughing at her family’s reactions but still so very happy to see them again.

The touching reunion was cut short by Bill’s curt “Ahem.” Looking back up Mabel wiggled her way out of the hug, stepping closer to Bill, only to have Dipper reach out and hold her hand back. She stopped. She had just gotten back and she could tell the rest of her family was still wary of the demon, they didn’t get to know him like her, and they were still scared.

Bill had still retained all of his usual cocky composure, and was casually taunting the two older pines about how tired and old they looked. Occasionally she would see his eye flick over to where she was still standing, only for him to look away right after. Something was still bugging him and if he thought that this was the way to avoid talking about it, well he was dead wrong.

“Bill?”

He ignored her, instead stopping his casual insults and leaning back to hover over the ground in a casual position, “Well. Looks like you finally finished the portal, ey?” No response came from the three men, but Pacifica just brushed past Bill to stand next to Mabel with a confused look etched onto her face. “Aren’t we a talkative crowd today! Obviously I’d rather not stand around in this dingy shack, if I need the portal I’ll come get it. Until then just make sure nothing goes through without my permission.” He had tried to make it sound playful and still threatening, but Mabel could tell it just left the rest of her family confused.

“WHAT?!” Dipper burst, red faced and shouting, “We worked non-stop to finish that thing and now you’re just going to say you’ll ‘Come back for it when you want it’ I’d almost prefer you just take it now!”

Bill snorted, “Oh, so you want me to invade now, is that it?”

Dipper stepped back and jerked his head to the side, “No.”

“Good, then I’d suggest you just do as I say. Now, if that’s everything I’d say it’s time for me to take my leave. So long!” Bill raised his hand to snap, and paused. He glanced over to Mabel, she could tell he wanted to say something, and there was no way she was just going to let him leave her her like this.

“Wait!” Everyone looked over shocked as Mabel lunged forward and grasped Bill’s forearm, “Please, let me talk to you really quick.”

Bill jutted his chin in the air, avoiding looking into her round pleading eyes. “Shooting Star…” He felt her grip tighten as he muttered her old nickname. “Let go of me.” Bill forced his voice to harden, fighting every urge to pick Mabel up and whisk her away with him.

“ **NO**.” Her voice began to waver but even so she refused to let go, knowing that as long as she held onto him, wherever he went she’d go too, “I - You… You need to let me talk to you.” Her mind was racing. No, there was no way on earth he was going to just drop her back with her family and run away as if nothing had happened in the past few weeks. She turned to the people she had been longing to see for almost a month now, and begged. “Please, let me talk to him alone. Please.” Her family was a mix of emotions; she could tell Dipper was fighting every urge to just pick her up and get her the hell away from Bill, Grunkle Ford was glaring at the demon in disgust -- his hand on the laser gun at his hip --, Grunkle Stan’s eyes seemed glossed over, understanding but confused. Desperate, Mabel turned to Pacifica, her eyes pleading. She watched Pacifica flit her eyes between both her and Bill until she finally sighed, with a light smirk Pacifica wordlessly pushed the three men out of the room, their protests useless against her stern yet calm chiding.

Now alone, Mabel let go of Bill. He still refused to look at her, instead staring at the ceiling. “Bill…” Mabel pleaded for a response from the now stoic man, “Bill, please. You can’t just ignore me.” Taking a deep breath she shouted at the top of her lungs, “BILL!” He barely flinched. Letting out a huff Mabel reached up and grabbed the sides of his face, pulling Bill down to face her. He stubbornly stared to the side, just past her face into the distance, trying harder to avoid Mabel. Growling, Mabel lightly shook his head “Look at me!”

Bill glanced over to her, “Whash” he mumbled indignantly as she clasped his face harder.

“Don’t what me. You’ve been acting all weird these past few days and I wanna know why.” Mabel stared straight at Bill, well aware of the fact that he could have poofed away and left her at any time. So she kept staring, until he finally gave in. Peeling her hands off of his face Bill stood straight and readjusted his bow tie and hat.

“I haven’t been acting weird. I’m a dream demon, I am weird.”

Mabel just facepalmed at his words, shaking her head she managed to hide a smirk that began to play on her lips, “As cute as you a-” she was cut off by Bill.

“Pffft. I’m flattered, but I think I’m more along the lines of roguishly handsome than cute.” Bill smiled proudly, bopping her on the nose as he said “cute.”

“Bill! I’m serious. You’ve been acting like a child!” Realizing how loud she was starting to sound, Mabel lowered her voice. “What happened? What’s wrong? You’ve been acting so strange…” She noticed as Bill lightly flinched at the word “strange” it was so slight that she almost didn’t notice. Trying to shake it off as just her imagination, Mabel continued, “I don’t want you to just leave me like this, whatever I did wrong we can talk it out…” Mabel reached out and lightly grasped Bill’s hand, “...please.”

Bill looked away, but didn’t pull his hand back. “Shooting Sta-”

Mabel burst, tightening her grip on Bill’s hand she yanked him closer to her, before pinning him against the tabel, her voice cracking, “SHOOTING STAR?! Nice try! You can NOT pretend that all of this never happened! I remember you shouting my name before I fainted…” she softened up at the blurred memory, “I- I don’t want to forget hearing you say my real name. I don’t want to pretend that you’re still the demon that hurt me years ago. I don’t want to pretend we aren’t even friends now.”

Bill blinked slowly, but his heart was racing. He couldn’t lie especially not to her, not when he could all but hear her cracking. “It-It’s-You… You did nothing wrong.”

Mabel but watched him, deflated she asked “Then what’s the problem?”

He wanted to tell her, he wanted to tell her more than anything, but the words weren’t working.

“Bill. I just want to know what I did wrong, I’ll leave you alone. Just tell me.”

“That’s the problem.”

“What?”

“You- you’re so caring and kind, but feisty and fiery and I just can’t seem to figure out what it is about you that makes me want to burst into flames! But not bad flames, good flames! You didn’t do anything wrong. And I don’t know why you couldn’t have just kept hating me.” Bill grabbed Mabel’s shoulders and leaned closer to her, “It’s me. I’m a monster, I made you the way you are. I’m the reason you and your brother and half the town suffer. I know I should feel nothing but guilty, but some part of me still is proud of my chaos, and angry I was beaten. Even so I can’t hate you no matter how hard I try. And now he’s back! And last time I tried to beat him I exhausted a millenia worth of power and I can’t lose… you.” Bill stopped, stopped shouting, stopped thinking. He just stood there in silence, watching for Mabel’s reaction, his final statement weighing heavy in the air.

Mabel smiled softly, “Then stay, stay with me.”

“But…”

“No buts, I can convince my family to let you stay. Just… whatever you’re so worried about we can handle it together. Look at what we were able to do when we worked together for just a short time. We had fun, I learned you aren’t the big chaotic baddie I thought you were.”

Bill ran his hands down from Mabel’s shoulders to her hands, “I can’t. I won’t be able to replenish my power as easily, I don’t belong to this dimension. Just come with me back to the mindscape, we can act like this all never happened.” Bill was so close to begging, or just taking her again.

Mabel somberly shook her head and looked back to the door that her family was probably crouched behind in wait. “I can’t leave my family again…” Bill cut her off with a finger to her lips. She looked up at him with big hazel eyes glinting with the beginnings of tears.

“I get it.” He failed to hide the disappointment hidden in his slight frown and drooping of his shoulders, and brushed one hand against her cheek, “Just promise me you’ll contact me if you are ever in danger.”

Mabel choked out a strangled laugh, “The one that loves destruction is now saying he’ll be my night in golden armor. How could I even contact you? I don’t remember the summoning spell, and last I checked you don’t have a cellphone.”

Bill paused for a moment thinking, before nodding his head slightly and snapping his fingers, a small golden chain appearing in his hand. Bill gruffly commanded Mabel to turn around, clearly trying to sound as stern as possible as he turned his head to try and hide the warmth in his cheeks. Mabel did as he said, brushing her hair to one side so he could put the chain around her neck. With a small click he hooked the chain. “Done.”

Mabel looked down at the necklace Bill had draped around her neck, there was a small simple gold triangle, at the center there was a thin onyx outline of another triangle. “It… It’s beautiful.” She smiled lightly as she cupped the charm in her hand.

“Now I’ll know when you need me, if I don’t come just shout my name and I’ll hear it.” Bill could hear his voice cracking as he tried to remain composed.

Mabel whipped her eyes back up to Bill realizing what was about to happen. She lunged at Bill, desperately clutching at his arm, “No! You can’t!” She tried to stifle a reappearing sob, “You can’t leave now!”

Bill tried to pull his arm away, but Mabel’s vice like grip wouldn’t let him go. “I can’t stay.”

“Please, we were finally getting along…”

“Mabel…”

“No.” She shook her head fervently, “Didn’t you feel it too? Didn’t you feel anything?! I… I think I might actually lo-”

Bill tore his eye from Mabel’s pleading ones interrupting her before she could finish that forbidden sentence, “No. I’m a demon, you’re a human. That type of thing is not possible, nothing but hatred can exist.” His words were harsh and clear, stabbing like a knife, directed to himself and Mabel equally. A sob broke from Mabel as she loosened her grip on Bill in shock. “Goodbye Shooting Star.” He ripped his arm out of Mabel’s now faint grip and quickly vanished before she could stop him again.

Mabel stood in the middle of the now empty room, unable to move from her spot. Tears began to run down her cheeks, wet sobs racking her body as she began to shake uncontrollably. There was a commotion on the other side of the door, before the thudding of a single set of feet could be heard bursting through and slamming the door shut with the faint click of the lock clicking behind them. Warm arms wrapped around Mabel as a lock of blonde hair brushed past her face. Burying her face into Pacifica’s shoulder Mabel cried, the pain worse than any torture she had endured before.

Bill stood in the main room, blankly looking around his arms went limp as he staggered down the hall. His heart was pounding, his stomach was churning and he felt as if there was a rock lodged in his throat. Before he knew it he was standing in front of what was once Mabel’s room. With trembling hands he opened the door, stepping in it just radiated Mabel. He could smell and feel her, his heart was beating so fast Bill couldn’t even feel his pulse anymore. He tried to balance himself against the wall, but sank to the floor instead. With his head in his hands Bill just sat there shaking, wanting to… he didn’t even know himself. He wanted to burn down an entire galaxy, yet he wanted to go right back to her hold her tight and apologise for everything he had just done. He could feel her pain through the necklace he had given her, Mabel’s pain echoing his own.

Pain. This was worse than anything he had felt before, this pain was anything but fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah. Classes are starting to amp up, with AP testing, track season, officially picking a college... sometimes life throws you a curve ball then hits you with a car, rolls you with a steamroller, sticks you under a train, then hits you with a plane and a rocket. 
> 
> I really do want to post more regularly, but when I started this almost a year and a half ago I didn't plan that far ahead in the plot, so now I'm trying to figure out where this will go and how it will go. I have and idea, but I want to refine it and give you guys something worthy of all the love I get from you. So really thank you for your support, even if I'm not the best at keeping to a schedule. 
> 
> Lots of Love,  
> Emerald Queeny


	15. Let's talk about it

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's my birthday gift to all of you. Technically there's still like thirty minutes left in the day where I am... so it counts! Here's a nice chapter coming at you in between all my finals and my graduation right around the corner. And so here is something to help the rest of you stressing out hopefully relax. Enjoy! Love you all!

****

* * *

 

**Mabel POV**

Dipper and Pacifica were crouched in front of Mabel’s door, trying to whisper and simultaneously listen for any noise coming from the other side.

“She’s been hiding in her room for two days now” Dipper was clearly worried as he pressed closer to the door.

Pacifica only rolled her eyes. “I’m well aware of that.”

“Do you think he hurt her? Is she possessed? Is it Stockholm syndrome?!”

“Why on earth would you even think of that, and how do you know it was Bill?”

Dipper tried to keep his voice down while also trying to shout, “That monster is the only thing she’s been around for over a month now! Why else would she hide herself away!?”

“I don’t know, maybe it’s because you were all so clingy once she got back.”

“Of course we were. You know how hard it’s been on us all without her, having her back was amazing. Of course we couldn’t let go.”

“I know. But don’t you think she also needs her space? She was crying after all.”

“Yeah, but she got over that. She was smiling by dinner and already looked so much happier.

“People don’t just forget things that make them cry.”

“That demon hurt my sister on purpose. I know it.”

“I don’t think so. He… from what I saw he wouldn’t want to hurt her.”

“Bill did it once before. It wouldn’t be that hard for that freak to do it again.”

Pacifica was clearly starting to get annoyed with Dipper’s increasingly panicked attitude. “People change.”

“No they don’t, and besides that demon is not human.”

“That doesn’t matter, besides… I did.”

“You’re different.”

Pacifica crossed her arms and jutted out her bottom lip, “How?”

“You didn’t try to take over the world.”

“So? I’m well aware of how awful a person I used to be. And you know who helped change me? You and Mabel. If anyone could cause an evil demon to change their ways in a short period of time it’d be her.”

“Then explain to me why she’s been crying for two days if she really softened him up.”

“For being so book smart, you really are an idiot at times.”

“Ugh.” Dipper impatiently knocked on the door, “Mabel please come on out. We need to make sure you’re okay.

Pacifica chimed in, “And we missed you!”

“She knows that.”

“You still have to say it you dunce.”

“Fine. Please! I just want to see my sister again.”

Mabel opened up the door, her eyes slightly red as she wiped at the corner of one of her eyes, “Hey bro-bro.”

“Are you alright? What did he do to you? Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine.”

“Okay then…”

Pacifica just rolled her eyes and nudged Dipper to the side, it was clear Mabel wasn’t going to talk to her brother about what was bothering her, but maybe she would talk to a friend. “Dipper. I think she needs some girl time, just give us a few minutes. Okay?” She rested her hand on his shoulder, softening the frown on his face.

Dipper glanced back to Mabel who was just standing there quietly before responding, “Fine.” He turned back to Pacifica gave her a sad smile, before leaning down and giving her a peck on the cheek and heading down the stairs. After he had turned and left her view Pacifica grabbed Mabel by the hand and dragged her back into her room, locking the door behind them, just in case Dipper decided to get nosey.

Mabel staggered over to her bed and just unceremoniously flopped onto it face first. Pacifica smoothed out her dress as she sat down at the edge of the bed. Knowing Mabel she should give her a moment before talking, so Pacifica just sat there looking around the room. Some sweaters were strewn across the floor, and her suitcases were piled in a corner of the room. There were still two beds, but with Dipper no longer sleeping in the same room there was random junk scattered across the bed; an unpacked suitcase, some makeup, knitting needles but no yarn, a pair of shoes, just stuff. It was actually kind of funny, compared to Dipper Mabel’s room looked like an explosion, as similar the two were they were also completely different.

Glancing back down at Mabel it was clear she was not going to start talking anytime soon. Huffing Pacifica pinched Mabel in the side, with a yelp she sat up in shock. “Hey!”

Pacifica covered her mouth to try and stifle a giggle, “Sorry. But you just weren’t talking…” lowering her hands Pacifica’s eyebrows scrunched in and she frowned slightly, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Mabel glanced away and rubbed her neck as she tried to avoid Pacifica’s gaze.

“No. You’re a shitty liar.” Pleading she hugged Mabel “Please, talk to me. You’ve done so much for me at least let me try to help.”

Mabel began to sniffle “I ne-never did any-anything.” Pacifica gasped and pulled back to face the now teary eyed girl, anger glittering in her cold blue eyes.

“Never did anything?!” She was already tired of this self-pitying and self-deprecating attitude and was going to get rid of it if it was the last thing she did. “Never did ANYTHING?! Mabel, you know what I was like before I met you?”

Shrugging mabel muttered “Kinda rude…”

“Kind of? HA! I was a total bitch. All I did was push people around and use my money to get whatever I wanted. But then you came in, a loud, neon spark of life. I hated you at first, because you were everything I wasn’t allowed to be; loud, exciting… free. And you saved me. You were nice to me no matter how I treated you. I bought victories against you, I abused you and your brother every chance I got. And even so, you were so kind. You… you were willing to do something no one had ever done before, just try to get along with me.”

“Anyone could have done that.”

“Yeah, but you were the only one that ever did, heck even your brother hated me until you managed to help bring us together.” She paused for a moment, “You know how you gave me that alpaca sweater?” Mabel just nodded her head, “I still have it, sure it doesn’t fit, but I couldn’t get rid of it, because you’re my friend. If it wasn’t for you I would still be that disgusting hypocrite I once was.”

“You were only a kid though, you still could have changed.”

“No excuses.” Pacifica shook her head fervently, “There is no guarantee I would have ever learned anything. Everyone else was too scared to tell me. Too scared to get close. But, you weren’t. Because that’s who you are! You’re unnecessarily loud and pushy, and all you do is try to entertain, yet at the same time you are kind and loving, you are willing to break down people’s walls and heal them from the inside out, all with a giant smile on your face.” Pacifica grabbed Mabel’s hand, “The Mabel I know is amazing; sure she might have some flaws and her own share of scars, but they only make you stronger and more unique, you have stories to tell that no one else can ever even imagine. I know you might not want to tell me what’s wrong. But don’t forget, I’m here for you if you ever need me.” Pacifica squeezed her hand and stood up, making her way back to the door.

Before she could leave the room Mabel shouted, “Wait!” Turning to look back Mabel was sitting up and smiling softly. Seeing that she had gotten her attention Mabel waved a little bit, “I guess, if anyone will understand it’s you.” With that she scooted to the side and patted the edge of the bed.

Content, Pacifica plopped down next to her. “So. Tell me everything.”

* * *

 

**Bill POV**

Bill had stopped pouting, it wasn’t something he should do.

He did feel numb though, and he couldn’t figure out why. It was one of those sensations like when he had been stone. Everything he touched or saw was muted and dull, everything about it was lacking. But why? Of course, he knew why. He missed having her around. That vibrant laugh and snarky attitude. Bill wanted to bubble her up again, this time not in some fantasy world with waffle guards and cotton candy clouds, but a world where she was next to him.Thinking of that made him feel queasy, like he wanted to.. What was the term again? Throw up? Yeah. He felt like he wanted to throw up, but at the same time he wanted to roll around laughing and crying. Luckily for him Bill hadn’t eaten yet. Afterall, the kitchen was one of her areas, and he didn’t want to be anywhere that her memory or presence was too strong. That was the problem though. She was everywhere. The central room reeked of their time before and after the disastrous trip to the yarn world. The halls still echoed their run-in with each other and his gift of knitting supplies. No matter where he seemed to look she was there. They had only been together for a month, even then it wasn’t like she was a willing participant. Bill had forced her. If it had been her choice he was sure she would never spend another moment anywhere near him.

And that sad smile she had given him. That seemingly heartfelt invite to stay with her and her family. It didn’t make sense, nobody -- not even his fellow demons -- could stand him enough to want him around all the time. Sure, he was confident in his abilities, it wasn’t like he was known for being a fearful, and timid mouse. Bill was known for being cocky about his superior intellect, and now that he had a human body he could tell that he had every right to be cocky about his looks too. But even so, with a human body came human emotions that he was very slowly started to figure out.

Sure, he already understood rage, and anger, and to some extent worry -- for himself.-- Joy, sorrow, nervousness, even fear, and regret, those emotions were new and even then there were some things he couldn’t name. And it all linked back to her. He still wanted to run back to her, to sweep her up and have her explain just why his new heart began to speed up whenever she spoke, why his breathing got just a bit harder when she would lean in, why his cheeks turned pink whenever she smiled. And of course, there was what that Llama Pacifica said “a man in love…”

Love. It was an emotion that he had no way of understanding, but Bill knew the weight it carried. And before he had cut her off, was that what Mabel had been about to say? There was that feeling again, wanting to throw up and smile like an idiot at the same time. No. It was ridiculous. Stop it, stop it, stop it.

He didn’t have time to think about that kind of thing. Not when… not when he was back.

Tad. Bill thought he had been destroyed, but apparently Tad was just as resilient as Bill. He thought back to the last time they had met. It was a fiery battle. The bodies of some of the oldest and most powerful demons had been thrown across the cosmos. Even Chaos demons understood the limits of chaos, but what happened at that moment was so much more. He could feel his body ache just from the memory of how much strain he had been under, it was not a fun pain.

Bill shook his head, no time for the past, he had to be ready. Standing up he staggered out of the room to try and clear his head.

* * *

 

**Mabel POV**

“... and that’s how you found me crying on the floor.”

Pacifica sat there with a blank expression, trying to wrap her head around everything she had just heard. “Wow…”

Mabel nervously rubbed the back of her head, “I mean yeah, I guess that’s an acurate way to describe it all.”

“No. No.” Pacifica shook her head, “That’s not it… it’s just that… pftttt!” She clutched her sides as she began to laugh.

“What’s so funny? That was emotionally draining and a wreck!”

“I’m HA-HO sorr-EHEHE OH MY GOD! I think that’s the plot of one of those cheesy romance novels with the shirtless dudes with luscious hair on the cover. It’s just… what’s wrong?”

“The problem is I’ve fallen in love before and nothing ever felt like this!”

After finally finishing her laughfest Pacifica cocked her head back and smiled, “Are you sure you ever really loved any of them?” Mabel just tilted her head in confusion. “Because, like, I had crushes on people, I even dated some of them and told them I loved them. But, compared to your brother…” At that Mabel made a gagging sound and Pacifica lightly punched her, “Compared to him, none of them even came close to making me as… happy as I did with him.”

Mabel just sat there for a moment, deep in thought. “I’m not sure. I mean I knew Mermando for like not even a week before I kissed him, but with Bill a part of me wants to…. I don’t know.”

Pacifica stared at her before suddenly getting an idea. “Okay then. How would you describe Bill to me?”

“What do you mean? You know what he looks like already.”

“No, if I had never met him before, how would you describe his looks? His personality?” Pacifica leaned in, watching Mabel intently.

“Umm… well. He’s handsome…” Mabel didn’t know what to do, but Pacifica just nodded, clearly expecting more details.

“He’s… tall. He has soft blonde hair that when you touch it feels like clouds. Perfect teeth, and a smile to go with them. He does this thing where he runs his hands through his hair to try and keep it slicked back, gah! ANd he has really smooth skin, and he is nice and tan, like… honey dipped in sunlight, oh, and he has an incredible six pack…” Pacifica wiggled her eyebrows, and Mabel could feel the heat rising to her cheeks, “I told you is was an accident. Besides, he’s actually pretty strong for his thin frame. Not to mention he’s so funny. I’ve never met someone that could keep up with me so easily. And just, ah… he’s so smart and kind. But in the way where he pretends to not care but then he does all these little things and just his smile is so pretty, and somehow he even has a perfect nose, and his eye! It’s so pretty, like a hoard of gold glittering away, you could get lost in it. Gah!” Mabel buried her face in her hands, to embarrassed to go on.

Pacifica leaned back up and whistled, “Man. Girl you’ve got it bad for him.”

“Are you sure?”

“Honey. You sounded like you’ve known him for your entire life and you’ve been together since forever.”

“But that’s the problem, he doesn’t. I doubt he even likes me.”

Pacifica didn’t know if she wanted to slap herself, Mabel, or Bill, “Trust me. I talked to him. He’s just as in love.”

“Pazzzz! Don’t say that word.”

“What? Love?” Mabel nodded shyly, her blush returning. Pacifica just grinned wildly, “Love, love lovelovelovelove LOVE!” Mabel lunged and covered her mouth while trying not to laugh of course in the end with Pacifica’s muffled shouts of “Love” still ringing in the end they both ended up laughing on the bed.

After wiping away tears of laughter Pacifica sat up and looked down at Mabel. She was smiling again. Nudging her, Mabel looked up at Pacifica in confusion before Paz began to talk, “Listen. I’m sure everything will work out. You just need to give it some time. Okay?” Mabel nodded and sat up, hugging Pacifica before getting up to go to the door with her.

“Thanks Paz.”

Pacifica just smiled back at Mabel, “I didn’t do anything. But, could you please talk to your brother? He’s worried sick.”

“Sure thing.” Mabel grinned before shouting down the stairs, “BRO-BRO!” Like a rocket Dipper came careening up the stairs, standing in front of the two girls. With that Pacifica said her goodnights and left the two alone.

“Hey Mabel.”

“Hey Dip-dop.”

“I’m glad you’re smiling again, I really missed you.”

Mabel poked him in the forehead, “Of course you did.”

Dipper shook his head, but was grinning the entire time, “Yeah, yeah. Are you feeling better?”

“Better? Yeah I am. I guess I just needed some girl time after all.”

Yeah, Dipper was happy that Paz managed to get is sister in a good mood, but it was also frustrating knowing that he couldn’t seem to help at all. “Listen, I want you to know you can trust me. We’re the Mystery Twins… right?” He held out a fist for a fist bump like back in the day. Instead Mabel wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, giving Dipper a bear hug.

“Of course.” They stood like that for a few seconds, until they both let go. “You’re the best brother I could ever ask for.” Mabel tried to stifle a yawn and Dipper patted her on the head.

“And you’re the best sister around. Now get some sleep. You’re exhausted.” He smiled one more time before heading down the stairs, the sound of his feet echoing with every step.

Once he had made his way down the stairs Mabel shut her door and headed back to bed. It was like a weight had been taken off her shoulders, she felt so light and free. Sure she was still confused and worried, but still… it was okay. Closing her eyes Mabel began to doze off, only to hear the tapping of a… cane?

_Tap… tap… tap…_

Was it Bill? She quickly sprung out of bed the excitement building, “Bill?!”

Whoever was in front of her wasn’t Bill, the moonlight didn’t show her much, but that chuckle, that was not him. The stranger bowed, removing a hat as they did. “Why hello there miss. My name is Tad Strange. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Listen, I headcannon that Pacifica is a total shipper who after years of being awful taught herself how to read people, and really cares about the twins. And yeah, next comes more content and less filler chapter, so get hyped. But, I have to return my school laptop in a few weeks which means until I get one for college, I'm going to be typing on my phone, so I'm going to need you guys to spell check me and tell me if something looks funky. Got it. Also when I said it's my birthday gift to you guys I mean it's literally my birthday and I decided to finish editing this chapter for you all. 
> 
> LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! THANKS FOR COMMENTING AND LIKING AND FOLLOWING THIS STORY!!!!


End file.
